


An Unexpected Mission

by Rivulet027



Category: Power Rangers Operation Overdrive
Genre: Crossover, Families of Choice, Flirting, Friendship, Humor, Multi, SocialWorkerRocky, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2011-08-11
Updated: 2011-08-11
Packaged: 2017-10-22 12:19:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 52,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/237941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rivulet027/pseuds/Rivulet027
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Once A Ranger vets team continue in Angel Grove with a new set of villains.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with Power Rangers, neither does my co-author. We also own nothing to do with 'The Exorcist' either.
> 
> A/N: Chapters 1-9 and 11-21 were orginally written in role playing formate with Moonlite_n_Rose. She has given me permission to post the story here as well as to continue this project without her. I am working on chapter 10 and post chapter 21 I will do my best to stick with our notes and ideas, but I'm sure my writing style will come through at some point. Posting as OO since it's the OaR team-up getting an extention.

Adam surveyed his living room with despair. In every available space there was either a body, or a bag belonging to a body. Sprawled out on each end of the couch were Tori and Kira. On the floor in front of the couch was Dustin. Xander and Bridge, in an act of 'green solidarity', were asleep under a large green blanket next to Dustin. And last but not least, Alpha 6 was standing in the corner, 'recharging' for the night.

"I cannot deal with this," he said to the sleeping visitors before turning around and running for the sanctuary of his bedroom. He quickly locked the door and surveyed his space, not a single thing in this room belonged to anyone else.

"I'm not cut out for this," he said shakily, steadily working himself up into full on panic mode. "It was only supposed to be temporary, now I'm stuck with them, and I’m their leader!" he exclaimed to himself.

He grabbed his cell phone off the dresser.

"Dial Kat," he told it firmly, and took a deep breath. She would know what to do; Kat always knew what to do.

Kat set down the scone she was spreading jam on and picked up her phone, “Adam? Are you alright?” She asked immediately, it was unusual for Adam to call so early her time.

“Kat,” Adam nearly whined, “I’m in trouble,” he said and then began to explain to her about the team-up, his leading of the team, and how their mission has been extended because of a new set of villains showing up. “I can’t do this,” he finished as he collapsed onto his bed.

“Of course you can, you’re a natural leader Adam, all of your doubts aside,” she said firmly and without hesitation.

“I am not,” Adam protested weakly.

“Don’t argue,” she said with a laugh. “Now, explain what’s going on in detail and tell me about your new team,” she ordered as she shouldered her phone, and picked up her scone once again.

After getting off the phone with Kat, he was decidedly calmer. He headed out into the hallway to survey his living room again, and shook his head. He may have been calmer, but he still didn't think he was cut out for this leadership thing. Slipping his phone out of his pocket he called Aisha, maybe she would have an idea how to handle this lot.

Aisha groaned when the phone began to ring. She blinked awake. She’d promised herself she wasn’t going to fall asleep on the couch in front of the T.V. again, but her she’d gone and done it. Some days she had to wonder when she’d gotten so boring. She snatched up the phone, but before she could even get out a greeting Adam was telling her, “Aisha, you’re not going to believe this,"

“Well hello to you too,” she greeted, “What am I not going to believe? That the Overdrive Rangers got their powers back…it’s all over that stupid idiot box. What was with your team anyway, starting off with five and then adding another yellow. Who needs two yellows? So you’re home right? Is that why you went and called me in the middle of the night?”

"First of all, it's not MY fault Dustin felt the need to jump into the middle of a battle sans powers and try to block an energy blast with his morpher, which absorbed the energy and recharged itself. I didn't ask for two yellows on my team…God my team, I never wanted this. It was supposed to be a one time deal… subbing for the newbies until they got their powers back, but no… we're not done yet, now there's a villain couple styling themselves after Rita and Zedd who've decided that since they got to the party late, and Thrax is already gone, they're just gonna try to pick up where Rita and Zedd left off, conquering the world. And since the newbies are busy with their gang of villains, guess whose job it is to fend off the newcomers. Mine! Well, mine and my teams…MY TEAM! They're practically children!" he exclaimed, heading back into his room and shutting the door. “Children who are currently camped on my living room floor, with Alpha 6, who is taller than I remember…" he trailed off and shook his head to keep himself on track.

"Did you know in reality…Bridge is three. THREE!" He paused to take a deep breath since he'd been attempting to talk without the need to pause for the last few minutes. The calmness he’d felt after talking to Kat had gone completely out the window now that he was talking to Aisha. Maybe he shouldn’t have called her.

Aisha listened to Adam. Obviously this Dustin was an idiot. Well, she had to admit to herself, she couldn't blame him for jumping into a battle to help his friends sans powers, she'd probably do the same thing. But what kind of an idiot wore his morpher if it didn't work? Oh no, what if he was a bad guy and had just used that opportunity to get onto the team…it wouldn't be the first time a ranger was evil.

And why was Adam leading? Yeah, she could tell from the news footage and her conversations with him that he was, but he had a red. Why wasn't the red leading? Yeah, okay, red didn't always mean leader, but…

Wait, a Rita and Zedd type duo? No, no, no! His living room floor…theses new baddies were starting in Angel Grove? Aisha groaned, she knew she shouldn't have had that movie marathon after the news announced the Overdrive Rangers got their powers back. The monster alarms hadn't gone off…wait did they still even work? Did Adam's team even have...wait Alpha wasn't quite Alpha. Wouldn't that be a good thing? She'd heard nothing but complaints about Alpha 6 when he'd first showed up.

And then he said the worst possible thing.

"Adam!" she shrieked, "What the hell do you mean you're sending a three year old into battle? Of all the stupid lame ass things, and here I thought only Rocky was the only one dense enough to hand his morpher over to a child. Obviously I was wrong. Who'd have thought Rocky a bad influence! I thought you said Bridge was from the future, you never said he was only three! Was this guy that recruited you a complete idiot? At least Justin knew how to fight; did any of your team even know how to before they became rangers?"

"Whoa! Back up, I said in reality… Bridge is from the future, remember," Adam replied running a hand through his hair and tugging on it a bit in frustration. "In 2007 Bridge is three. Future Bridge is somewhere around twenty-three, and not only is he a newbie red, he's a former blue… who was a former green."

He collapsed onto his bed with a groan. "I'm not that stupid 'Sha." He felt the need to add. How could she think he'd send a three year old into battle!

"I know," she admitted, "but you said he was three and with that stupid grow up thing how was I supposed to know? Things just started getting wacky after I left."

"Tori and Dustin can fight; they trained at that ninja school, and while they aren't up to our level quite yet, that comes with experience. Xander, well… he's a, and I quote, 'a lover, not a fighter mate'. But he's at least picked up something from the powers, not to mention he's got magic… Kira, well she had some training with Tommy, so she can at least hold her own… Bridge is alright, he's better than Kira and Xander but not as good as Tori and Dustin." He looked out the window, staring at the night sky and sighed.

She listened to his explanation of their fighting ability as she mulled over Bridges color changes…great his team either had a Tommy-syndrome or a ranking system and since she'd seen the number on the uniform in the news footage she was willing to bet it was a ranking system.

"They make me feel old," he added quietly. Sure they may not have been that much younger than him, but he took up the mantel of being a ranger at fifteen. For almost four years he fought monsters on a daily basis, with nothing but his martial arts skills and the power given to him by Zordon, and now here he was ten years later, picking up that mantel once more, only this time as the leader of a 'veteran', ha, he snorted internally, team of rangers, all of who were barely old enough to drink. Wait a minute, "I don't even think Xander is old enough to drink."

 

"Well we sure as hell weren't old enough to drink," she snorted, "You're not old, though if I was fighting with a three year old I'd probably feel the same way." She was never going to let him live that down. Bridge was in some ways only technically three…oh she was going to have so much fun with that one. "Hang on, let me get Rocky on the line…if anyone can convince you that you're not old it'll be Rocky."

She called him, setting up the three way call. She wasn't going to able to get her in need of a confidence boost friend back to normal on her own. She was the one who found flaws in the plan, she was confident yes, but she had a healthy dose of being able to see reality to go with it. If anyone could bring in the optimism they needed it would be Rocky.

An unintelligible groan was her answer when Rocky picked up the phone.

"Wake up you big lug!" she told him, "Adam's needs you to convince him he's not old!"

Before Rocky could respond another thought hit her, "Adam do you even have a tech? Do you even have Zords?"

"Why would Adam need Zords?" Rocky asked sleepily.

"Because I'm the de-facto commander of a 'veteran' squad of rangers," Adam replied with a sigh. "And no, I don't have a tech, and I don't have zords. We were using Overdrive's zords, even though Xander didn't need too because he is a zord."

"One of your teammates is a zord? What?" Rocky yawned.

"No! Rocky wake up man!" Adam exclaimed into the phone. "Xander is from the Mystics, they could turn into their zords… remember?"

"Whatever it's early… and I'm hungry," Rocky retorted. "So wait, you're the leader of a ranger team now, you have no tech guy, and no zords…How the hell long have I been asleep?"

"Aisha!" Adam groaned. Why did she have to call Rocky? She knew he made no sense at three in the morning.

"Several days Rocky, you slept through the whole takeover of the Earth. Actually, not any longer then I was when Adam called me. If you wake up long enough to convince him he's not old and can handle this I'll take you out to eat the next time you're in town,” Aisha told Rocky before she got back to Adam, "Bet you're not thinking about being old now, are you? You've got way bigger concerns. So one Zord? What the hell is that suppose to do when the monsters start growing big? Is there anyone on your team smart enough to be a tech?"

"Well Xander's zord is about the size of a megazord," Adam replied, remembering being amazed at the sight of the Minotaur Titan. He groaned, "I don’t think anyone on the team can do tech work, the Ninja's had Cam, Kira's team had Hayley, we had Billy, and well Xander's team didn't need a techie. I have no clue what Bridge is capable of, except he's got some sort of aura reading ability.”

He stared up at the ceiling, "I wonder what Billy's up to. I haven't heard from him in awhile, I hope that means he's not hiding himself away doing some experiments again. Remember last time…"

"Focus Adam!" Rocky interrupted his ramblings, which was ironic coming from him.

"If that isn't the goose complaining the swan has a long neck," Adam grumbled. “Anyway… great… I need Zords. I need to work on getting Bridge accustomed to 2007 electronics. I need to get these guys into a bigger space before I kill them, or they kill each other. Guys… I'm so not cut out for this, I'm not Tommy or Jason," he said doubtfully.

"Oh knock it off, you were practically leading the Turbo team because Tommy was MIA due to his racing. This is just like that," Rocky said dismissively. "And you're not old; you aren't even thirty yet man… and just remember, no matter how old you are Jason and Tommy are older than you," he added with a laugh.

"Thanks," Adam deadpanned. That wasn't exactly what he wanted to hear.

Aisha suppressed her laughter; this was exactly why she'd called Rocky. She was just glad that offering him food in the future had worked into getting him focused.

"Okay, so Xander has a Zord. You need to find out if any of the others have working Zords. Obviously not Bridge, but maybe the others aren't trashed and they can work together somehow? Just speaking out loud here," she reminded. She'd be the first to admit she wasn't a tech.

"And you listed about three techs," Rocky reminded, "Add Justin to that list. Someone has to be available."

"Justin is at MIT and up to his ears in research and papers, he's a last resort, because I know he'd help in a heartbeat and I am not going to be the reason that boy doesn't become the next Billy or Hayley," Adam said firmly. He was starting to feel a lot better about this, he still didn't think he was cut out for it, but it didn't seem as daunting as before.

"Didn't Lightspeed have like a whole group of techs under some woman?" Aisha added, "If none of our friends are available I'm sure you could contact Tommy, get more tech numbers and find someone."

"Nah," Rocky said, "I'm sure Billy'll do it and if not Tommy'll drag Hayley into it."

"And if that doesn't work you do have two Ninja's. Guilt this Cam into it, is he any good at Zords?" Aisha added.

"Well Billy is right there in town right?" Rocky replied, "So go bug him… and if he won't answer for you, sick Trini on him, he's completely wrapped around her finger.”

"I'll call Billy tomorrow. I don't want to bother Hayley, because Tommy is still sulking about missing out on the team up the first time. I don't want to hear him whine about the unfairness of it all, being left out of the team again. Of course," he chuckled, "it would be amusing to see Hayley kick his ass."

"That is always amusing man," Rocky chimed in.

Aisha laughed, “You tell that man that the only color options left to him are blue, yellow and pink and I’m sure if he’s that desperate Hayley can find a way to make him pink.”

"Anyways,” Adam laughed, “So yeah, Hayley's obviously the choice above Justin… Cam, I really hate to bother, because even though he's a genius with the tech, he's really busy with the Ninja academy… so Billy's my first choice, then Cam, then Hayley and finally Justin."

"Sounds like a plan man," Rocky replied in turn.

"Hmm… I wonder if it's possible to reconstruct the Mastodon or the Lion zord, I never got to use the Mastodon," Adam said thoughtfully. "Man I wish you were both here," he said a bit wistfully. It felt completely wrong that he was taking up the reins again without his teammates, and his best friends. Aisha was only a short drive away, but Rocky was states away from Angel Grove.

“I’m only in Stone Canyon,” she reminded, “We even have monster alarms here. I hope they still work. Well if they don’t I’m sure they will soon. But he’s right, Rocky you need to get your butt back here and hang out with us soon!”

“I’m busy,” Rocky laughed, “maybe when I get some free time.”

“I still can’t believe that technically one of your team is thr…oh crap,” Aisha paused when she actually let that thought sink in, “That means Bridge has a three year old version of himself running around. If he does anything, even try to get his driver’s license it’s going to look like he’s trying to steal his own identity.”

“What?” Rocky asked. Aisha quickly explained the future bit.

“Sorry Adam,” she sighed frustrated, “Here I am supposed to be helping you solve your problems not think of other ones.”

"Oh lord. So I have to get Hayley involved, man this is borderline shady though…I mean he can't steal his own identity but I don't want anyone asking questions, so we have to get him some papers," he sighed. "Man, this villain couple better be worth all this trouble," he grumbled, already going through a list in his head of the papers he needed Hayley to doctor. "Social Security number, an alias to get papers like his license… public records, man… not to mention he has some 'issues'," he said putting his hand to his forehead. "Man…"

"It's only a little bit illegal," Rocky temporized, "Besides it's for the greater good man! A little bit of hacky, hacky, saves the world from being blown uppy!"

Adam chuckled, "Well when you put it that way. Seriously though… we need to take care of this sooner rather than later, and we really need a bigger space, my apartment will not survive."

"Don't worry man, it will all work out. It's a ranger thing, things always work out in the end," Rocky said encouragingly, then yawned.

"Man… I hate to do this you guys, but I have to work in… well," he looked at his watch. "TWO HOURS!" he whined. "Man, I gotta start getting ready for work. I love you guys… and I'll call ya later, kisses for ya Aisha," he said making kissing noses into the phone. "And a 'manly' hug for ya Adam," he said with a laugh.

What did he mean he was getting off the phone? Aisha looked at the time and swore, “Me too Adam, sorry. If I get off now I can squeeze in maybe an hour more sleep.”

She yawned, “I’ll call you when I get off work. You’ll work this out. Bye!”

Adam sighed.

"Sorry to keep you guys up… g'nite," he said hanging up the phone.

Andrew Hartford finished looking over the prospective houses he’d found for the new Angel Grove team. How had he gotten them into this mess? Some days it was bad enough that he’d pulled the Overdrive Rangers from their lives, other days it was the best thing to ever happen to him. This, with what had happened to Adam and the rest of the veteran rangers, left him feeling that it was all his fault. They all had lives that had already been interrupted by being rangers and had worked hard at getting back to them. They’d been kind enough to step in and keep everything running smoothly, even fixed the morphing grid, but they hadn’t signed up for the long term. He only hoped that offering them a fully furnished place to live would help make up for having to put their lives on hold a lot longer than any of them had planned. He had the choices narrowed down to three and sent them to Adam in an e-mail. Then he picked up the phone.

Adam's phone rang as soon as he shut it. "What the hell," he flipped it open. "Hello?"

"Hi Adam, this is Andrew Hartford. How are things going?"

"Andrew?" Oh no, now what's happened, he thought immediately. "Is everything alright back in San Angeles?" It had better be, he thought, we're not prepared to go back into battle immediately.

Andrew could hear the tension in Adam’s tone. He hadn’t meant to upset the younger man, “Everything’s fine here Adam, thanks to all of you. I sent you an e-mail. I know what’s happened has disrupted your lives and I can’t imagine what it looks like trying to fit six other people into your home, so I thought maybe you’d let me help you set up a new base of operations. I was hoping you’d let me buy the team a house. I’ve found three rather nice ones that look like they might work out. Why don’t you check your e-mail and tell me what you think?”

"I can't let you buy us a house man, that's too much," Adam protested as he walked out of his bedroom and into the living room and paused in the hallway. It was damn near impossible to get to his computer desk. He had to cross over bags, and bodies, and blankets. Maybe it's not too much, he thought to himself as he started to pass through the treacherous terrain.

After nearly killing himself when Xander turned over in his sleep and almost took out his leg, he collapsed onto his computer chair.

"It's not…"Andrew started to argue back, but then he heard the unmistakable sounds of Adam trying to make his way across his apartment and decided to shut up hoping that the experience would change his mind. Seven people cramped into a one bedroom apartment, he didn't even want to think about it.

"Sooo…about this house," Adam said, his mind changed completely.

"It's got to be big enough for all of us to stay in," Adam replied as he opened up his email account and the email that Andrew sent.

"Holy crap," he said a little breathlessly as he viewed the houses Andrew picked out.

"No more protesting," Andrew told Adam in hopes that that would work, even though it sounded like his mind was already change, "You're right you need a place that's big enough for all of you with room to spare. You need some place where you can learn to work together, but not be falling all over each other when you need some time alone, not to mention the equipment you need and have I convinced you yet?"

"No more protesting, but holy crap these are huge!" he exclaimed as he scrolled through the choices. They all had seven or more bedrooms, and while they weren't exactly Hartford sized mansions…they were definitely beyond big.

"These are all out on the edge of town," he said thoughtfully. It would make things a hell of a lot easier. They were all log cabin-esque style houses, all with views of the mountains, which made Adam a bit nostalgic, since that was where the original command center was. He finally settled on one, a gorgeous house with two above ground levels and one sub-level, which would be perfect for a 'command center'.

"The center one, it's perfect," he said firmly.

“Good,” Andrew said as Adam made a decision, “I’ll get right on that, well baring monster attacks. I’ll call you when everything’s arranged and Adam, thank you again.”

Andrew said his goodbyes and hung up intent on buying a house.


	2. Chapter 2

As Rocky hung up the phone he could hear Aisha making her goodbyes. He glanced at the clock, he had a little over two hours to get to work. He felt awful, he was stressed for Adam. He also knew he was too busy and too far away to be of any good to his friend. Maybe if he got some sleep he could think of something to help him. That in mind he called off work for the day.

He collapsed in front of his computer then began looking up the cost of plane tickets as he picked up his phone and dialed. He really hoped he wasn’t calling at a bad time, trying to calculate out time differences always made his head hurt.

Kat was just sitting down for an afternoon cup of tea when the phone rang. No one she knew in London would call around this time so it had to be one of her friends from the states. She looked at her caller id and smiled, "'Ello."

"Hi Kat," he greeted enthusiastically when she picked up; "Guess who's got a really huge favor to ask of you?"

"Oh Rocky, what do you need now?" She asked exasperatedly; then decided to tease him, "I can't bail you out of jail when I'm across the ocean ya know."

“Ye of little faith,” he grumbled good-naturedly, “No it’s about Adam. Do you know what’s going on with him?”

"Yeah, he had a minor freak out on the phone with me this morning; I managed to calm him down a bit. I assume you're calling me because he gave you a repeat performance?"

“No, worse. He called Aisha,” Rocky gave that a moment to sink in before he continued, “And then she decided to get me in on the three-way. I think we helped him see it’s manageable, but you know Aisha’s not good with the calming down and despite the fact that he’s got other friends in Angel Grove I really don’t see them, how do I put this…Kat he needs someone like you who can get him to talk about what the hell is going on so he doesn’t lose his mind. I’ll even pay for the plane ticket to get you there and the plane ticket to get you home. I wish I could go, but I’m…I’m kinda stuck right now, I don’t even want to talk about the wheedling it took me to get the day off of work even though I’ve been up half the night with my two best friends.”

"Oh good lord… I love 'Sha to death, but when it comes to the three of you, you all feed off each other and make things worse," Kat said plainly.

Rocky sighed. How had he gotten so busy that he couldn't just drop everything and go back and help Adam? Wasn't he supposed to be there for his friend?

Kat noticed that Rocky was being awfully silent, she knew he felt bad. "Rock… listen, you can't help it that you have a demanding job, a job you're quite good at. You're not the only one who can't take time off to go jetting to wherever our friends need us. But…" she continued quickly before Rocky could think she wouldn't do it. "I am between shows right now, and I'm at a point where I'm not even sure I want to do another show, so I can definitely go back home and give Adam some moral support, and maybe even help out with things. I used to help Billy when he was playing tech for us, remember? You don't even have to pay for my ticket hon, it's not like I can't afford it."

"Thanks Kat," Rocky smiled feeling better, "I would at least like to help cover the cost, last minute tickets aren't exactly the least expensive things."

"If you want to help me out, send me a bunch of those chocolates I like from that store across the street from your work. They don't have a shop in Angel Grove, and I think I'm going to need them by the time things heat up. Besides, I haven't had chocolate since the last time I was in the states," she added, knowing it would shock Rocky, who was sure that chocolate should be one of the food groups.

“What?” She hadn’t just said that! “No chocolate, are you insane? I mean I know you like have to be careful about what you eat, but how are you surviving if you haven’t had any chocolate?” Rocky told her, then smiled ruefully, “Nothing to worry about, I’ll soon take care of that.” He turned serious again, “Thank you Kat, I really think Adam’s going to need the support.”

"You don't have to thank me, it's the least I can do to help, you guys have always been there for me whenever you can," Kat replied firmly. "But don't tell Adam I'm coming, I want to surprise him." She looked at the clock. "I gotta go, I meeting my partner for dinner, I have to break a few things to him," she said a bit stiffly, as if she was dreading the dinner. "I'll call you when I have my flight time," she promised.

“Okay,” Rocky agreed, he hadn’t missed her voice change when she talked about her partner, “Hey if you need to talk about anything I’m here. I may not be able to go anywhere right now, but I can still pack a mean intimidation routine or a good ear if you’re in need.”

"Nah… it's nothing major, I'm just going to be telling him something I know he won't want to hear, and it's just not going to be pretty. He's an amazing dancer, but he's such a bloody diva, it's not even funny," she said with a sigh. "I'll call you later Rock… cheers," she said hanging up. "At least now I have a plausible reason for not dancing in the next production," she said to herself as she went to go change for dinner.

~~~~~*****~~~~~

Dustin yawned, then stretched and opened his eyes to the sight of Bridge and Xander curled around one another. He smiled with a shake of his head before he leaned back to check on the girls. Everyone’s blankets had shifted so he carefully tucked everyone back in starting with Tori, moving to Kira and then the guys. It was about then he noticed Adam at the computer. He padded over as carefully as he could. “Morning Dude, whatcha looking at?” he greeted as he scratched his stomach and suppressed another yawn.

"Our new base of operations," Adam said showing Dustin the house. "Andrew's present for us, since technically it's all his teams fault we're back in action." He waited as Dustin checked out the house, "So, what do you think? It's like a hundred times bigger than this place."

Dustin peaked over Adam’s shoulder. He wet his lips and then said the only thing he could manage, “Duuuude.” He blinked at the screen, “Is that like a work out room. Dude!”

Dustin bounced happily, “That is so cool. No offense dude, but we’d so kill each other here. I was going to try and find a place for some of us today, but that is so much better. But like what are we gonna do about Zords? Cam like fixed Tor’s and mine, but like it combines with the falcon zord. Shane’d probably be cool if we used it, and I know they can do a like remote thing from like ninja ops, but…Hey, maybe he could managed to hook it up to like someone else’s morpher or something.” He yawned again, “Dude I so like need to go for a quick run. I’m like gonna check the fridge and get some stuff from the store too. I can make breakfast, if that’s cool with you?”

Adam blinked and just took in everything that Dustin was saying, the only thought running through his head was, I wonder what a conversation between him and Bridge would be like.

"I know y'all would kill each other here, I'd probably be tempted myself," he added with a smile. "I'm calling Billy… he was my team's tech guy, maybe he and Cam can figure out a way to route the falcon to Bridge's morpher. Billy will have to work out zords for Kira and myself, and maybe figure out a way to combine with Xander's Minotaur. That way we'd have two Megazords.”

Adam grabbed a pen and a paper to write that idea down to hand off to Billy, and looked up at Dustin, realizing he was waiting for an answer about the breakfast. "You can cook? Go for it man. I'm sure the legions are going to be dying of hunger when they wake up," he said with a laugh.

“Well like duh dude. I can even cook vegetarian if I have too, my sister is like totally a future girl yellow, she’s like way scary dude.” Dustin shuffled his way over to his bag, got out a change of clothes and his wallet. By the time he came out of the bathroom, and started slipping on his running shoes Bridge had begun to stir.

Bridge groaned. He didn’t want to wake up, Xander was peaceful in sleep and he’d kept trying to hold onto that peacefulness through the night as panic had kept overwhelming his sleep. What he needed was his old room, with Sky who didn’t project or Syd or Z or Jack. He could feel the tension radiating up his neck making his head pound. He tried burrowing closer to Xander, but unless he tried skin on skin contact Xander’s peaceful sleep wasn’t going to help him. He flopped onto his back and rubbed at his temples. Tori was peaceful, Kira was anxious and Adam…thankfully Adam was starting to calm down. Dustin was happy…but leaving?

He couldn’t take this, none of them had decent mental shields. They all projected and were cramped into this tiny apartment.

Bridge sat up and buried his head in his hands. Then he ran a hand down his face as he wrinkled his nose thoughtfully. He could find a way to deal with this, he had to. Wait, was Adam wondering what he was doing, if he was feeling alright?

Bridge slammed his hand against his head. Stop! He ordered his brain. He didn’t read minds unless he concentrated. Bridge scrambled to the nearest wall and settled himself into a handstand. He needed to get back into his own head and now! He could feel Adam’s eyes on him. He closed his eyes tightly trying to block him out as he admitted, “You’re projecting, actually all of you are projecting and my shield aren’t so good when I sleep. Not everyone’s happy, and it’s become disconcerting. My head aches and I need to find my equilibrium.”

Adam's eyebrows rose even more at Bridge's answer to his unspoken 'what the hell'. "Sorry… things have been a little disconcerting since I found we were more of a permanent squad than a temp team," he responded curiously.

“Yeah, I was hoping to go home,” Bridge told him then frowned as he realized it hadn’t come out right. He sounded a lot like Xander when he’d said that actually. He groaned, that hadn’t happened to him in years. He moved his mouth around and tried to remind himself what he sounded like.

Apparently Bridge did more than just read auras. "So what, are you a telepath or something?" Adam asked, wanting to know the extent of Bridge's abilities. He needed to know these things, even if he didn't want to think about these things, even if all he wanted to think about was his bed.

Bridge sighed, what he needed was Dr. Felix and something to get rid of this headache, then maybe he could concentrate. Frustrated he dropped out of his handstand and rubbed at his temples again, "I read auras and it lets me track people, that you know, but it's more than that. The aura is a way of letting me pick up on people’s emotions, I feel them directly when someone touches me. It's mostly directed though my hands, but all of my skin can pick up on it on some level."

He tugged down his sleeves, "I can accept some skin on skin contact, but it's still a work in progress. Everyone at SPD is taught how not to project, so I usually have one of them to fall back on if I get overwhelmed. I can read minds, but usually only if I concentrate on it. I've also had some instances of precognition and I still don't sound like me do I?"

Adam sighed; it'd been a long time since he'd had to actually work on keeping his emotions in check. He has a friend who is sort of like Bridge, and reacts to others emotions. He did his best at that moment to clamp down on his emotions in an attempt to help Bridge.

Bridge's shoulders sagged slightly when he could no longer feel Adam's emotions. Why weren't his shields working? He knew how to mentally block people, why was he struggling with it so much?

"You sound a bit like Xander, a bit of an aussie accent coming out," Adam told him.

Bridge groaned and rubbed at the back of his neck trying to think of how to explain, "There was like this lab accident and it like...” He buried his head in his hands and stopped. It would just be better if he just stopped.

"And you don't have to explain everything right now. I'll work with the others, give them the basics to lock down their emotions as best they can," Adam responded kindly.

"Thank you," he managed, then wrinkled his nose still not sure if he sounded like himself.

"Will Tylenol help your headache any? I have some in the medicine cabinet," Adam offered.

Bridge took his head out of his hands and looked at Adam confused, "What's Tylenol?"

Adam raised his eyebrows at that. "Umm… it's a pain reliever, a medicine, it helps with aches, pains, headaches, fevers, that sort of thing," he explained.

"Similar to Acetaminophen?" Bridge asked before he shook his head, "Yeah, sure, please." He closed his eyes and let his head rest against the wall.

"It is Acetaminophen, Tylenol is just a brand name," Adam explained before heading into the bathroom to grab the bottle of Tylenol. He stopped off in the kitchen for a glass of water and headed back into the living room.

Oh, Bridge thought. Maybe this was why he was overwhelmed. He'd been able to block them when he thought it was a quick mission. He'd been able to firmly have his mental shields in place when he woke up, because he knew he would be going home soon. His Ranger History class had briefly skimmed the fact that there was a team-up for the Operations Overdrive team and he already knew what happened to Kira in the future thanks to Syd's taste in music...so it really wasn’t supposed to last very long, was it? He couldn't blame his teachers for not giving him any details, but having been brought to the past by the Sentinel Knight he had been counting on that as a way home.

He shouldn't have just assumed. Well, the Sentinal Knight had offered, but he had to finish the mission. He couldn't just abandon this team when they were in the beginning of a fight. But now he was panicking, had he given up his one chance to go home?

No, he told himself, if Boom can pull radio broadcasts from the future I should be able to send myself home. He tried to remember the schematics for Boom's device, but his head pounded again. He groaned. When he could think, then he could worry about how he was going to get home and it'd have to be a side-project, the team came first.

Adam watched Bridge contemplating everything and felt pangs of sympathy towards him, if he was having a hard time dealing with this, Bridge had to be having it even worse, it was supposed to be a temporary mission, and it was worse for Bridge, this wasn't even his time!

"Here," Adam said holding the medicine out to him.

"Thanks, and I’m sorry for not knowing what Tylenol was. I’ve really only been taught the chemical names," Bridge said taking the pills from him and accepting the water. Well, Adam wasn't Dr. Felix, but this would hopefully work.

Before Adam could respond Xander rolled over, pulled the blanket over his head and muttered, "I'm not getting up unless the world is ending."

Bridge blinked, and people thought he was weird. He tilted his head to look up at Adam, "Have you even slept?"

Adam chuckled at Xander's mutterings and then looked over when Bridge asked his question.

"No, I called some of my ex-teammates, didn't exactly mean to jaw the night away with them," he yawned. "I'll just tough it out today, if I go to sleep right now, it’ll throw my sleep cycle all outta wack." He looked over at the couch, where the girls were curled up. "It's a good thing they are so small, or they'd be awfully uncomfortable," he commented, running a hand through his tousled hair.

"I am awfully uncomfortable," Tori grumbled, as she turned over on the couch and went back to sleep.   
Adam's comment caused Bridge to look and take in their surroundings for the first time. It was a nice apartment, at least he thought it was nice given that he really didn't have a 2007 basis for comparison, but there were six of them, seven when you counted Alpha.

Bridge stared and then shook his head, "This isn't going to work."

"Mr. Hartford took care of it, as an apology for pretty much dragging us all into this, not that we wouldn't have gotten a team together if need be, but," he paused and shook his head. "He's bought us a house," he waved towards the computer screen, where the specks were still open in the email, "Which is good, because you are absolutely right, this wouldn't work, we'd kill each other, all cramped up in this small space, not to mention, when our tempers run short, there's be no way to lock the emotions down, we'd drive you insane in the first drag out fight." He walked back over to his computer chair, "The house is huge… it'll be big enough for all of us."

Bridge nodded as Adam told him what Mr. Hartford had done, that was really nice of him. Adam was right, he wouldn't be able to handle any fights in this small space and wait...were they becoming their own team...a team he'd never studied in all of his history classes?

Bridge wet his lips suddenly feeling ill. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall as he told himself that he wouldn't have been able to study the history. He had contacted SPD when he first arrived here, let them know who he was and why he was in one of their uniforms. They would have known not to teach him about this.

He ran a hand down his face and worked his way to his feet to check out their new base of operations. His eyes widened as he scrolled, "Wow. This is..." He smiled, maybe just maybe this could work.

His brief moment of peace at the thought was interrupted as Dustin spun back into the apartment carrying a few bags and bustled into the kitchen. He suddenly felt very, very happy. Bridge groaned and let his head hit the desk. He wasn't happy he told himself.

Adam put a comforting hand on Bridge’s shoulder as he watched him do a live impression of 'headesk'. He was sure that Bridge would be alright after he was given a few days to acclimate to the surroundings and the situation.

Dustin had intended to go for a short run, then to pick up food, but he'd caught sight of Bridge stirring and he really wasn't sure of what the shower situation was going to be and he so wasn't going to smell for the rest of the day. So a slight use of Ninja powers, a trip to the grocery store and a quick move back and he was ready for the day. He’d go running once things were sorted.

He paused in the kitchen, it wasn't his. He shrugged; he might as well just make himself at home if he was going to be cooking breakfast. Okay, toast for Bridge, with butter. Pancakes for him and waffles for Tori or was it pancakes for Tori and waffles for him? It never failed she always wanted the opposite of what he wanted. Oh well, he'd just make lots of both, even though he sort of felt like pancakes. He set up Bridge's toast, then some coffee and some tea before he decided to ask Adam, "So do you want pancakes or waffles? Oh or an omelet...I can like so do an omelet Dude. I got like tons of food, cause everyone always in the mood for breakfast...at least we always were, even Cam."

Dustin paused to think for a moment, then shrugged and preheated the oven so he could cook the bacon. He started some sausage in a pan and began on the batter. It'd so be better to wait to see what kind of eggs they wanted.

Adam listened to Dustin ramble on about breakfast and then got up, heading into the kitchen, keeping his footing a lot easier now that two of the rangers were awake and off his floor.

"I'll have a bacon and cheese omelet," he told him, leaning against the doorway to the kitchen. "And coffee… a lot of coffee," he half murmured to himself as he watched the coffee percolate.

"Oh and like dude before you panic...I like can so also clean up after myself. I can't stand dirty dishes, like just ask Tor when she wakes up, her mom loves me when I come over cause ugh well dishes are just..." Dustin paused to shudder and then went back to cooking.

Adam laughed as Dustin shuddered about the dishes, "You shouldn't have to clean up if you're doing the cooking, I'm sure between the five of us we can clean up after you make breakfast."

Dustin opened his mouth to give his standard reply that Hunter wasn’t allowed near dishes. “Dude,” Dustin shook his head to cover his almost mistake. It was weird serving on a team that didn’t have his old teammates, at least he had T. He wasn’t sure what he’d do without T, well without Tori he wouldn’t have even had the accident that gave him his powers back so he was really grateful.

Dustin shrugged, “Whatever happens, as long as they’re clean I’m cool. Just do me one favor though, Dude? When you call Cam about the Zords or is Tori calling him? Well anyway, when he offers, cause I like so know he will just say no to CyberCam.”

Adam raised an eyebrow. “I think I'll have Tori call him, and I'm not sure I want to know what CyberCam is," he said a bit warily.   
Bridge stood blinking in the doorway. Dustin gave him a smile and went back to cooking, grabbing Bridge’s toast and buttering it for him when it came up. He handed Bridge the plate.

Bridge blinked at his toast, “Is it…”

“Yep Dude,” Dustin confirmed as soon as he saw the fingers wiggling. He bounced back over and checked his bacon.

Toast, as far as Bridge was concerned, was the ultimate comfort food and he needed it. The morning had been weird enough, but what Dustin was doing was just beyond weird. His mother had had a hand in inventing the synthesizer that gave them their food…so this was just scary.

Adam headed over to the coffee, leaning against the counter as he watched Dustin and Bridge, chuckling slightly when Bridge wiggled his fingers.

"You don't remember home cooked meals, Bridge?" Adam asked curiously.

Bridge wrinkled his nose trying to remember and frowned. "I think I have a memory of my grandma making cookies, but she died when I was young. At least I'm pretty sure she made them, maybe she didn't. I know my Mom didn't make them. My mom hated to cook, she loved making things though so it was probably that that led to her helping to develop a synthesizer. I invented a computer program that makes my toast perfectly, just the way I like it, but I guess that's not as interesting as the synthesizer."

Adam shook his head. "I think that's pretty cool… when I make toast, it usually comes out either black, or warm bread," he said making a face before sipping his coffee.

"It was great, it came out just buttery enough, but not too buttery and I'd just got my waffle iron patented before I left."

Tori, who'd woken up to the smells of a thoroughly Dustin meal, stepped up behind Bridge. "Dustin! You'd better not burn my eggs," she grumbled, running a hand through her tousled hair.

"Duuude!" Dustin complained as he began Adam's omelet, "That was like so long ago and it was totally like Shane's fault. And that other time was Hunter and Blake's fault…it's not my fault they wouldn't trust that I can cook."

"Morning Bridge," she said giving him a half-asleep smile. She nodded at Adam. "I'll call Cam later," she told him, having heard him talking about it as she woke up.

Bridge returned Tori's greeting and went back to his toast. He was tempted to ask for coffee since Sky had forbidden him from having any after the one and only time he'd tried it. He really hadn't been 'rambling' that fast.

"Coffee Bridge?" Adam asked, as Tori headed for the tea rolling her eyes at what Dustin said. Waiting for Bridge's reply he touched Tori on the arm and murmured to her, explaining quietly and quickly that Bridge could sense emotions, and the easily most efficient way to lock overflow of emotions down.

Should he or shouldn't he? Bridge had really only had it once and it had tasted good after Jack told him to add sugar, but Sky had said never again and well Sky wasn't technically his commander right now…so one cup couldn't hurt could it?

"Sure," Bridge smiled, "Can I have sugar too?"

Tori tilted her head to the side. "So… it's like mediating? Dustin's gonna have a problem with that," she murmured looking over at her teammate, well her original teammate, since they were all her teammates now.

"We'll deal with that later," Adam replied sipping his coffee. "You can do it right?"

Tori nodded and mentally ran though the basics of grounding and centering, putting a mental damper between herself and anyone who could read emotions. She hoped that would help Bridge, she didn't know if she would’ve been able to handle that, feeling what everyone felt.

Dustin slide Adam's omelet onto a plate, handed it to him, grabbed the sugar and set it near the coffee along with a mug for Bridge before he began on Tori's breakfast.

"Hey T, did you want waffles or pancakes?"

As Bridge began to make himself a cup of coffee…how much sugar had Jack added? A few spoonfuls at least…he felt not only the medicine kick in, but also realized that he wasn't sensing Tori. He sighed in relief, that was a bit better and once they got into that larger house he was sure he could rebuild the mental shields he'd somehow lost his hold on.

"Waffles," Tori replied as she put some honey in her tea.

Yup, Dustin decided, he definitely wanted pancakes.

"And I want fluffy eggs this time," she said taking a sip of her steaming tea. "So what are we doing about living arrangements? I mean Dustin and I could stay in Blue Bay and ninja streak in if we had too, but we should probably try to all stay in town."

Adam explained to her about the house situation.

"T, you like have to look at this house, it's like so cool," Dustin said as he began on her eggs. Fluffy, check, he could so do fluffy.

Bridge snagged a seat at the table with his coffee and polished off his toast.

"So that's taken care of, but speaking of ninja streaking, I wonder, when I talk to Billy, I'll have to see if he can tap into the morphing grid and work out some sort of teleportation method for us, it'll be easier to get to battles that way, that's what we did back in…" Adam trailed off, he'd been about to say, 'back in my day'. "Wow I just made myself feel old," Adam muttered.

"Dude, you're like only in your like um thirties right? That's like so not old," Dustin tried as he started more toast for Bridge.

Adam's face fell and he sat down at the table and buried his head into his arms. "I'm not even thirty yet," he mumbled.

Tori shot Dustin a look, he couldn't make their leader depressed. "Fix it," she hissed urgently.

Crap, Dustin thought as he cringed. T was gonna hit him and dude she hit hard. "Um sorry dude," he tried. He quickly slid Tori's food onto her plate when he caught the look that response had given him. "Look, I'm like a total airhead and um well I just assumed cause well Dr. O is like so in his thirties cause I like know Hayley's in her thirties and we like so went to her birthday party. I even like made the cake dude! So I like um know you two were like rangers together so me being like the total like um not making sense right now dude that I am I just assumed so like you're not old and please don't let Tori kill me. Please! Dude?"

Adam lifted his head up.

"Tommy's thirty… Haley's 33, I'm a year younger than Tommy and Jason…" he said trying not to chuckle at Dustin's mild freak out over the fact he called him old. "I can't stop Tori from killing you man… sorry," he said with a sneaky grin, a little payback.

"Yeah, he can't stop me," Tori said smacking Dustin in the arm. "So there."

"But Dude," he pouted at both of them, "I like made you breakfast." With that he stuck out his tongue at Tori and went to make himself a plate.

"Real mature there Waldo," Tori retorted, grabbing her plate and sitting down at the table.

She hadn't just...had she? She wouldn't, but she had...

"Waldo?" Adam asked in surprise, "You're name is Waldo, man?"

"Duuude," he complained, "Tor, that was low." He flopped down at the table, "This is why girls are superior, they just win every time and even if you acknowledge that they'll win...they pull underhanded things like telling everyone that your mom went and named you Waldo."

"And don't you forget it," Tori said with a grin. "By the way… great breakfast," she said in a conciliatory gesture.

Adam laughed and patted Dustin on the shoulder, "Girls, especially ranger girls, are never, ever to be messed with; even the pinks have a tendency to bite."

Dustin brightened, "So dude, is like Bridge your real name?"

Bridge blinked, "Yes, I think so."

Dustin groaned and went back to breakfast.

At that moment, Kira dragged her feet into the kitchen.

"Coffee," she mumbled, her hair going every which way. She was 'not' a morning person.

Dustin spun out of his chair and grabbed her a cup of coffee, remembering the way she liked it from the last time he'd hung out with her and the rest of her old team. He shoved it into her hands and asked, "Pancakes or waffles, sausage or bacon, and how do you like your eggs?"

Xander smelled food. He groaned and turned back over. The world wasn't ending, and he wasn't getting up…wait did someone say sausage? He blinked blearily and padded into the kitchen. He blinked at everyone and yawned.

Bridge slipped from the room, too many people. Thankfully his headache was gone, but he wasn't going to chance it. He moved into a handstand and closed his eyes, concentrating on his mental shields and rebuilding walls. When this was done, he told himself, he’d start thinking of a way to get home.

Kira just stared at Dustin, her brain slowly processing what he was asking her. It wasn't until Bridge slipped past her that she yawned.

"Bacon… eggs over easy," she mumbled taking the coffee. "Thanks…" she sat down in Bridge's vacated spot, took a sip of her coffee and then rested her head on her arms on the table, "Couch is lumpy…"

"That's for sure," Tori said, leaning over and rubbing Kira's back.

"Hey, I was gonna offer you girls my bed, but you were out cold not even ten minutes after we got back," Adam told them as he finished up his coffee. He didn't take offense because it was true; his couch was lumpy as all get out, only Rocky liked to sleep on that thing.

"Not complaining," Kira muttered in return.

Xander stared blankly as Dustin asked him the same question he’d asked Kira.

“Dude, your worse than Kira…not that you aren’t perfect Kira because you are…it’s just he is so less awake then you,” Dustin said as he went to cook them both breakfast.

Xander flopped into the nearest chair and stared straight ahead. He blinked, then he yawned again. Then he registered what Kira had said. “I’ll complain,” he volunteered before he rested his head in his arms, waiting for breakfast to magically appear.

"You can't complain… you slept on the floor," Kira muttered in Xander's direction. "As for you Dustin… shadup," she grouched at him.

 

“And with someone,” Xander reminded, “So I’m sure my night went decidedly better than yours.”

If looks could kill, Xander would be six feet under, but as Kira was about to reply, Dustin had set the plates down in front of them.

"Saved by breakfast," Kira grumbled before tucking into her breakfast.

"Kira, drink your coffee, and wake up," Adam chided gently. The last thing he wanted was a ranger throw down in his kitchen at way too early in the morning.

"I am awake," she said raising her head up and taking another sip of her coffee. "What are we…"

"It's been taken care of," Tori cut her off, explaining to her and Xander about the house Mr. Hartford had bestowed upon them. "Just drink your coffee and try not to bite anybody's head off," she told her.

"I'll give it back to them later," Kira retorted as she obeyed Adam and Tori and drank her coffee.

Xander lifted his head for the first time, “A house? You mean I won’t have to go to Rootcore and research teleporting spells?”

“Nope Dude,” Dustin said as he leaned on the table, “Anyone want seconds?”

“Not yet, Kira might though…” Xander muttered as he gave his teammate a mild glare for her earlier comments.

Adam raised an eyebrow at Xander. "Since you didn't HAVE a female yellow, let me give you a bit of advice, they will chew you up and spit you out into tiny little pieces if you piss them off, so… I wouldn't," he advised.

“This is why I’ll stick with having male yellows around” Xander decided sleepily as he wrapped his arms around Dustin and pulled him into his lap.

Dustin squawked in protest before he declared, “Hands!” He easily moved away from the younger man and told him, “Okay, obviously dude this team needs some rules…so here’s one…no flirting from Xander unless he’s awake. Okay, dude?” Dustin backed away and when he was sure it was safe, he made himself a fresh plate.

"Well you're stuck with a female yellow, so deal with it," Kira snapped at him, until she realized it was fruitless, he was still practically asleep. "Men!" She huffed and went back to her food.

Dustin spun around and glared at Xander, “Don’t upset my fellow yellow or you won’t get seconds!”

Xander blinked and shrugged, then noticed his breakfast, “Oh, food. I love food.”

Adam sighed quietly, he was going to be insane before long he just knew it. "I wonder if this is what happened to Tommy," he said quietly to himself. "Driven crazy by kids…"

"Hey!" Kira exclaimed.

"Hey!" Tori's exclamation soon followed

“Dude!” Dustin protested.

“Huh?” Xander asked as he finished his breakfast, "Can I have more?"

"If you tell Kira you’re sorry for pissing her off," Dustin frowned.

Xander blinked at his empty plate, then looked up at Kira. He took in her hair, the not a morning person look on her face and wet his lips, "Obviously I'm an idiot for not waking up quickly enough. Upsetting someone as beautiful as you isn't on my agenda and I am truly sorry."

He turned to look at Dustin expectantly. Dustin shrugged, "It's totally up to Kira dude."

Xander was about to give his best pleading look when Bridge bounced up to the door of the kitchen, not really aware that he was still bouncing up and down, “I figured it out! I’ll card myself. I can easily build the device to send myself home, it’ll take awhile and finding parts, but that shouldn’t be a problem, unless 2007 parts are completely incompatible with what I have in mind, but I’m hoping at the moment that that they won’t be. So barring that setback I can easily send myself home, except that it would be difficult to send myself home. So I make the signal, the me, that I’m sending smaller by carding myself. It’d just be simpler and more basic and require less energy, unless I’m wrong in my calculations and I could be because I have written it out yet or worked on a computer program and I hope computers here are advanced enough to run the simulations that I’ll need to run to test my theory. If not, I did bring my lap top with me and my theory should work providing that Sky uncards me when I get home. Or maybe it would be Z or Syd or hey maybe Jack will have come back and he’ll uncard me, either way my plan hinges’ on them not leaving me in the card. You don’t think they’d leave me carded do you? I hope not, I can’t imagine it’d be fun to be in a card. We once had to card a whole team of ra…can’t tell that story, but don’t worry I won’t send myself home until we’re done with this mission.”

Whatever reply Adam had in mind for everyone's protests to his statement died in the back of his throat as he listened to Bridge babble. Had he even paused to breathe, he wondered to himself. "Wow," Adam commented as he attempted to break down what Bridge had actually said.

Kira stared at him, she recognized a coffee high when she saw one; Ethan was the same way. "You. Coffee. Bad. No," she scolded, shaking a finger at him.

"Dang, I thought Dustin could babble, he's got nothing on you," Tori said in awe.

“Don’t look at me I so didn’t get any of that,” Dustin told her.

“Food?” Xander asked.

A compliant Dustin just made him another plate all the while throwing sideways glances at Bridge who had tilted his head as he looked at Kira. Then Bridge opened his mouth, “You sound like Sky. He said coffee was bad for me too, that I rambled too much, but I’m not sure I see that. I don’t ramble. I make valid points, I just tend to make points that no one else sees or go about pointing out my valid points in a round about way that no one understands. Or maybe I am rambling. I guess I could be rambling, but I don’t see how. My points make sense to me. Oh and Boom they make sense to Boom and a lot of times Kat and I really don’t see how this has anything to do with coffee so I….”

Bridge’s voice became muffled. After Dustin set a second plate of food in front of Xander, he wandered up to Bridge and placed a hand over his mouth, “Dude slow down. I am actually at a point where I understand about every other word out of Cam’s mouth and I like get that I’m an airhead, but you are making like no sense at like all.”

Kira nodded and stood up, walking over to him so she could look him in the eyes. "You ARE rambling. Valid points or not, you are talking a hundred miles an hour and no one can understand you. So yes… no more coffee for you, got it?" She asked, cocking her head to the side.

Adam sighed. He was tired; he really didn't want to deal with this and now, on top of a half-asleep Xander and a grumpy Kira, he had a hyped up Bridge. "Sooo not good," he said resting his head in his hands, his elbows propped up on the table.

"It'll be okay Adam," Tori said sympathetically.

"I hope so…" Adam groaned.

Bridge’s eyes glazed, he barely heard Kira, instead focused on the feelings he was getting from his contact with Dustin. Happiness was Dustin’s signature, an optimism, but there was uncertainty and worry hidden in its depths. He saw Dustin’s worry for his friends, his…Bridge jerked away gasping, “Dude, like don’t touch me!”

He shook his head, then blinked at Kira, “Like sorry. I’m going to like go think about sending myself home!”

Bridge stumbled away from them shakily before he took a calming breath and collapsed near the wall. He’d go into a handstand in a moment; he needed to find his own headspace, again. How had he missed Dustin about to touch him? Maybe Kira and Sky were right and coffee was bad for him.

“Um, did um he just sound like me?” Dustin asked as he turned towards Tori looking for an explanation. If anyone would know what he’d just done wrong it would be T.

"What the hell was that?" Kira demanded, looking over towards Tori and Adam.

Adam's head popped up at Bridge's imitation of Dustin and realized exactly what happened. He watched Bridge for a moment to make sure he was alright, or at least as alright as someone with his ability could be after getting a sensory overload. He looked up Kira and Dustin, who were looking at them expectantly.

"You want to handle Dustin?" He asked Tori, "I'll explain things to Kira."

Tori nodded. "I've got Dustin," she said grabbing his arm and pulling him towards the patio.

Adam sighed, "Sit down, I'll explain," he told Kira, motioning to her seat. He then began to explain to her what Bridge's abilities were, and why the rest of the team had to be careful not to touch him unless he said it was alright, as well as the basics of grounding, centering, and shielding.

Xander honestly tried to pay attention to what Adam was saying, but he kept zoning out. He stared down at his empty plate and groaned, "I'm going back to sleep, can you explain this to me again at a more decent time?

Adam sighed again, why did he have the feeling he was going to age at last ten years by the time this mission was over? "Go back to bed man… we'll catch you up later."

Xander nodded, he attempted to give Kira a smile, "And I am sorry if I upset you."

Kira sighed. "I'm sorry I snapped at you," she called back to him as he headed to his blanket.

Xander nodded and with that he found his way back to that nice green blanket and with his stomach full fell asleep quickly.

Adam looked at Kira. "Don't worry, things will get better once we get into the house," he said reassuringly. "Come on… help me clean up," he said getting up and taking the plates to the sink.

"Okay," she followed with the glasses and then grabbed the now cooled off cooking pans and stood next to Adam, rinsing as he washed.


	3. Chapter 3

A confused Dustin let Tori lead him away. "Dude, I'm like sorry?" he tried, "T, how bad was the bad that I just did?" Actually what had he done? "Is Bridge okay? I like didn't mean to hurt him."

"Bridge is fine Dustin. Okay," she paused, trying to figure out how to put this in a way Dustin would understand. "Bridge can feel what we feel; he can sense our emotions, among other things. It's even worse for him when he's in physical contact with one of us. So… no more skin to skin contact unless he okays it." She bit her lip, "We also have to work at keeping our emotions inside our skins, so to speak."

"Duuuude," Dustin shook his head at Tori's explanation, then he scratched his head, "So like how do we do that?"

"Well… grounding, centering, and shielding," she said tentatively, knowing he'd recognize at least the first two from the meditation they were all supposed to learn.

Dustin groaned, "But T, I like suck at that! Even Sensei said to let it be with trying to teach me." Dustin flopped down and wrinkled his nose, "Oh man, how am I going to do this?” He rested his chin in his hands with a frown.

Tori put her arms around him. "I don't know, but promise you'll try again? I promise I'll work on a way to make it easier for you to learn, I know you hate to be still," she said comfortingly.

"I'll try," Dustin promised with a sigh as he leaned into her, "if you promise not to hit me when I fall asleep."

He tilted his head to look at her, "T, you’re not mad at me are you? I really didn't know that it'd recharge my morpher when I pushed Kira out of the way. I just saw that thing hitting the others with that energy blast and it demorphing them and I know how to channel energy through me and redirect it into the ground so I...I just didn't want it to hurt Kira." He turned away and tugged on his hair, "And then it hit me in my morpher and that screwed up the whole channeling thing and you're not upset with me for sticking around are you? I know this was sorta your thing."

"Of course I'm not upset Dustin," Tori said, surprised at the outburst from her friend. "Frankly, we need all the help we can get, so I like having you here. It makes things a little easier on me, having you here too," she admitted. Having Dustin there was almost like having the team together again. "Kira's not mad at you either…she's just grumpy in the mornings, plus she's a female yellow, Adam's told me all about female yellows, they're feisty," she said kissing his forehead.

Dustin beamed a smile at her. Tori always managed to make him feel better. "Well apparently the male yellows are comic book geeks," he joked. He wrinkled his nose, "So we'll work on the meditating thing and hey maybe I'll get it right this time. And we we’ll also need Zords, and Cam can so help with that since our Zords are fixed and I really don't see Shane objecting to us using his Zord. Dude, do you think we could get our Tsunami Cycles back? Cause that would be like so cool."

Tori nodded. "I have an idea for your meditation, meditation more your style," she said with a grin. "I'll tell you more once I work out the details, I think I need to talk with Adam about it," she added before he could start pestering her with questions. "I should probably call Cam huh?" Tori pondered to him. "I mean, we need our zords… and it should be pretty simple to switch the focus for the Hawk from Shane to Bridge, at least temporarily. As for our cycles… I dunno, maybe we'll get something better, like a set of cycles for all of us rangers on this team," she said with a laugh.

"Yeah," he agreed, "there were only five and the Thunder's wouldn't be in the right colors and well I can't imagine Hunter letting anyone use his cycle without too many threats that we like so don't have time to deal with. New cycles would be cool."

"Neither one of those boys would let anyone use their precious cycles," Tori said shaking her head.

"Or their Zords," Dustin added with a shudder, "they'd kill us the first time one of their Zords even got so much as a scratch. I like would so not want to deal with that."

"Attachment issues galore with them," she laughed.

Dustin nodded his agreement.

"We'll talk to Adam about it later, after he's had a bit to process what's going on. I think out of all of us, he's hit the hardest, I mean for us, it's only been a few years, I borrowed that Ranger History Disk from Dr. Oliver, it's been ten years since Adam's been a full-time ranger. I can't imagine picking it up after living a normal life for so long," Tori sighed thoughtfully.

"Dude, ten years? That's like insane! Well, maybe we could like insist that he get the master bedroom when we move into that house Mr. Hartford is buying for us. I mean he is the one that's been putting his life together longer than us and he is our leader so it might help make him feel a bit better. Is that a good idea?"

"Like there was ever any doubt about Adam getting the master bedroom. He's our leader, he's the most experienced out of all of us, and I think he needs the solace the most out of all of us, except for maybe Bridge, but that's for different reasons," Tori said with a firm nod. "Adam is definitely getting the master bedroom, no ifs, ands, or buts."

Dustin nodded along with Tori, "And the others had better agree with us, we're trained Ninjas and Sensei's after all." He gave her another grin and bumped her shoulder, "This will work out. We'll kick these evil space whatever they are baddies butts. Hey, maybe we should all look at the website of the house first, it's got great pictures of each room. That way we can at least pick out which room everyone gets and there'll like be no fighting about it when we get there."

Tori nodded, smiling at Dustin's enthusiasm. "Let's go… I wonder if there is a lake near the house," she pondered as she grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the patio door once more.

Dustin poked her even as he followed, "Like maybe we should call Cam first, figure out what's going on with your shop and our Zords. I already called Kelly and told her I'd need to extend my leave of absence and Sensei told us to take as much time as needed."

"You're right, but my shop is taken care of. I told my employees that I was taking an extended leave of absence, and that Kelly was acting manager until further notice," she said shutting the door behind them. She headed into the living room and grabbed her cell phone, putting it on speaker and dialing Cam's number. At the sound of Cam's voice she grinned. "Cam, have I told you lately how much I love you?" She asked sweetly, like she always did when she had a favor to ask.

Cam sighed, "Alright, what do you want?"

"Nothing much… just the Dolphin and Lion Zords… and the Hawk Zord reconfigured so that Bridge can use it, if we get permission from Shane, so we can form the Storm Megazord to beat these new evil aliens that are trying to take over the planet," she swallowed a giggle and grinned at Dustin.

Dustin shared her grin.

Cam gave them an annoyed sigh just for good measure, "Shane'll say yes if he knows what's good for him. I'll need a look at Bridge's morpher, but it shouldn't be too difficult. Make a list of the power disks that you want. Did you want any of the other Zords? I also have the program for our transportation system, as that might actually prove useful." Cam paused for a moment trying to think, "Maybe I could come up with some new power disk designs. Would you be interested in CyberCam? I finally managed to work out all the bugs that Lothor gave him."

At the mention of CyberCam Dustin's eyes grew wide and he mouthed 'Say No' at Tori.

"I'll make a list of the power disks… and we'll only need the three zords for right now, Adam's working on the others, and…" she swallowed another laugh at Dustin's wide eyed look, "It's okay about CyberCam, er…Cam. We have an Alpha that will work just fine." In an attempt to steer the conversation away from CyberCam she added, "I'll head out to the academy tomorrow with Bridge so you can look at his morpher. I really appreciate this Cam, more than I can say."

“Sure you do. Now show me you appreciate it by actually getting me that list and then defeating these villains because I like my world without evil space aliens. They’ve already tried to recruit my cousins, except they threw in a clause of hitting them with some experimental ray that would ensure that they’d turned evil, would even go so far as to make them evil. If these things go after my cousins again…” Cam let the conversation hang there as he wasn’t sure he could put into words just what he wanted to do to these villains for threatening his cousins’ sense of right and wrong.

Dustin scowled, his face darkening as he promised, “They’re so dead Cam.”

He’d been responsible for Marah and Kapri’s basic training and no one, absolutely no one, went after his students. Especially not after he’d seen them struggle with the concept of if they were good or evil and then decided that they preferred to be good.

"We'll make sure they regret going after the girls Cam… no worries there," Tori said in a deceptively calm voice. In her head, the biggest tidal wave she could manage was waiting for the next time she saw the villainous couple of the year. How dare they try to subvert Marah and Kapri! They've been working so hard at being good and trying to be ninjas.

“Good.” Cam agreed, “I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

"How dare they…" she muttered darkly.

“Obviously they have a death wish,” Dustin agreed.

From his place on the floor, snuggled into the blanket Xander tilted his head to look at the two of them. Tori was easily the calmest girl he’d met besides Maddy and now she looked ready to really hurt someone. Dustin usually wore a grin on his face, but now a scowl had taken its place. Curious he asked, “Who has a death wish?”

Tori looked down at Xander. "These villains, they tried to subvert Marah and Kapri," she said in her cool, controlled tone. "Marah and Kapri are still working on the whole good guys thing, and they tried to ruin that."

Remembering Cam was still on the phone she looked down at her cell, "I'm gonna let you go, we'll see you tomorrow Cam," with that, she flipped her phone shut. She looked at Dustin, "This just became a hell of a lot more personal now."

“Tell me about it,” Dustin agreed as he started to pace, hand clenching and unclenching in anger, “They just…dude. Dude!”

Xander blinked at them. He could understand not wanting his friends to be turned evil, that whole vampire incident with V hadn’t been pleasant at all. Still these two looked ready to go. He glanced over at Bridge, who was in a handstand eyes closed, no help there. Where were Kira or Adam? Maybe he should get one of them? “Okay,” he said sitting up and scrubbing a hand down his face, “but lets try and calm down first, no need getting ahead of ourselves.” Xander continued confused, "Were they team members?" He'd thought Tori was the only girl on her team.

Tori shook her head. "They used to work for Lothor, but decided to be good when they realized they kinda sucked at being bad, and Lothor was trying to use them for his grand master plan," she explained to Xander.

“Oh,” Xander said. He wet his lips thankful that they hadn’t succeeded as he thought of the villains he knew who’d turned good and how he’d feel if they were suddenly evil again.

Kira came out of the bathroom then, freshly showered, dressed causally in a yellow t-shirt and a pair of jeans, her hair hanging loosely on her shoulders. "Who? Marah and Kapri?" she asked, having heard Tori's explanation.

"Ruxandra tried to turn them evil, permanently," Tori said taking a deep breath, knowing deep down that getting upset about it wouldn't help anything, and would just make her reckless, but it was hard, knowing how hard the girls had worked.

Kira gasped. "No way, they're okay though right?" She asked quickly. She didn't know them well, but she knew that they were good at heart, and had rescued the students from the academy, and rescued Sensei when Lothor had come back to try his hand at her team.

“Yes, thankfully,” Dustin told her, his pace agitated, “I’m just so argh…I know I like need to calm down, but I’m just so…I mean how dare they, right?” Dustin paused to run a hand through his hair. He forced himself to flop down in front of the computer desk and bring up the link to the house Adam had showed him. “We should pick out rooms,” he said in an attempt to clear his mind and think about something other than wanting to find these two baddies and to make them feel a world of pain.

"If there's a lake, I want one facing it," Tori said knowing what Dustin was trying to do, and following his lead. She could only imagine what Bridge would be feeling if they didn't manage to lock down their emotions.

"As long as it's my own, I don't care where it is," Kira said peering over Dustin's shoulder. “Damn… it's huge," she murmured appreciatively. "Oooh… I want that one!" Kira said pointing to one of the rooms that was shown; it was already painted a pale yellow.

"A yellow for our yellow," Dustin grinned at her enthusiasm and love of their new house, he quickly scrolled through the pictures for a lake view, "Well there’s a blue and a red facing the lake...dibs on blue T?"

Tori nodded. "Of course… like I'd really want the red room," she scoffed at the idea.

"I'll take green," Xander said as Bridge wandered over. Dustin glanced at Bridge and then looked back at the computer. He was everywhere with his feelings right now. With a sigh he spun out of the chair and announced he was going for a run. With a call that he'd just pick from whatever was left he was out the door.

Bridge watched Dustin leave with a frown. He had his shields firmly in place. He moved his frown to the other side of his face as he asked Tori, "Should I tell him I’m okay?" Bridge glanced at the pictures, "I'll take the other green room. Adam should get the master bedroom."

"We already decided Adam gets the master bedroom, since he's our leader and he's giving up more than most of us to come back to rangering," Tori replied firmly. She looked at Bridge for a moment before answering Bridge's first question, "Yeah, he really has a hard time controlling his emotions and learning anything that requires being still for any length of time. He fell asleep every time we tried to learn meditation. I'm thinking about attempting to teach him a method of meditation that involves moment, bo-fighting actually, that might be the key for him."

Bridge nodded at what Tori said, "I'll try and reassure him. I think I was mostly just overwhelmed because I thought I'd be going home and then we were all crammed together in this space and well none of you has the control Sky does, so I just got overwhelmed.”

Kira nodded in agreement, "I think so too, Dustin's body needs movement," she added as they scrolled through more pictures of the houses.

Xander wiggled his eyebrows at Kira, "And you'd know that how?"

Kira gasped at him, "What?!?!" She exclaimed as she all but launched herself at Xander.

Tori grabbed her and held her back, "Kira! No… we need him, you can't kill him!" She exclaimed. "Bridge you're closest… smack him!"

If there was one thing Bridge Carson knew it was that when a woman yelled an order you followed it. Confused Bridge said, “Okay.” He glanced at his glove to make sure it was secure then smacked a startled looking Xander upside the head.

Billy looked down at the quick sketch almost schematic that he’d drawn of the Mastodon Zord from memory. He frowned at it, he was sure he’d forgotten some components, but then he’d been on the phone with Jason and the one things he was still working towards improving was his ability to multitask. If what Jason had been telling him was correct, and it might not be as it seemed Jason had forgotten the first rule about assuming, Adam might be needing a zord.

Determined to find out and determined to find out how his friend would feel about Jason’s suggestion that he help teach in Adam’s absence Billy picked up the phone.

Adam was relaxing in the quiet of his bedroom. Kira had claimed the shower, Tori was still busy with Dustin, Xander was asleep and Bridge was still working on his shielding. He should really be doing something productive, like calling Billy, but the quiet was just too nice. Suddenly, the phone rang and he lazily grabbed it, "Hello?"

“Salutations,” Billy greeted with a grin, knowing that with that one word Adam would know who was calling.

"Billy! I was just thinking about calling you," he said a little cautiously, freaked out by the moment. "What's going on man?"

“Well I’ve heard a most disturbing rumor and I thought it best to check with the source of this rumor before I indulged in believing it,” Billy started to explain, “According to Jason, your temporary assignment has become a more permanent situation and he was inquiring as to my ability to cover some of your classes while you were away as he wasn’t completely prepared for this turn of events. However I thought it best to seek your opinion on the matter before I gave him my decision.”

"So Jason asked you to cover for me while I'm out saving the world again, only ten years older and the de-facto leader this time," Adam translated. "Go for it… if these baddies work the way Rita and Zedd used to, and something tells me they modeled themselves after those two, I won't have the time to work at the dojo," he sighed. "By the way… we have a small zord situation," he said tentatively, hoping he would be able to help. Billy was the best, bar none.

“I see, then I’ll let Jason know if I can fit it into my schedule. What exactly do you mean by small zord situation? Does anyone on your new team actually have access to their zords?” Billy asked, hoping he wouldn’t have to do everything from scratch. He also asked slowly and carefully, not ready to simply volunteer just yet.

Adam thought about it, "Well you know MY zord situation. Kira's zord was destroyed in the final battle. Bridge's zord is still in the future. Tori and Dustin should have access to their zords, we're going to see if Cam can't get their third zord to work for Bridge, and Xander IS his zord, so really, it's just a zord for me and Kira… which, should probably be something along the lines of a Pterodactyl, since that's her power, oh… and I was pondering the idea of them being able to combine with Xander's…" he trailed off, wondering if Billy would help or not, "I could really use your help man."

Of course he knew Adam’s zord situation, Adam didn’t have a zord, he had a start from scratch situation. Billy began fixing the schematic he had in front of him as he pondered what to say, “First of all who is Cam and if he can help you with three zords how is he unobtainable to help you with the other two? Also combining zords would depend on your meaning when you say that Xander becomes his zord.”

Satisfied with what he had on the Mastodon Zord he began sketching out what he remembered about Kim’s original zord. That should work for Kira and Adam, provided of course he remembered correctly. He’d likely need to call Kim and find out from her, what could’ve been better about her Pterodactyl Zord if she had had the options of changing things about it and of course it’d have to be yellow instead of pink. He’d also need to get a hold of Tommy, as he knew Tommy had records of everything, some pictures of the zords; also any schematics he had would be of great usefulness. An e-mail to either Tommy or Hayley would work for that, but he’d have to find his laptop first. Where had he put his laptop?

"Cam is… or rather was, the Ninja Storm rangers tech man. He created their zords, and even though they were pretty much totaled after the final battle, he had a self-repair mechanism built into the zords and after a bit, they managed to pull themselves back together. You guys would get along great… anyway, the reason I don't want to get him involved is because he's really involved in running the Wind Ninja Academy at the moment… and to be honest, I'd rather have you do it… you know the schematics of the old zords the best," Adam said as he sat up on his bed. "As for Xander, I mean that quite literally, he becomes a gigantic mechanical looking minotaur, sort of."

While Adam was replying to Billy, Trini walked into his workroom, carrying his laptop.

“I’d want to see that actually and maybe acquire this Cam’s e-mail address?” Billy hinted.

"Babe…your laptop was in the living room, I figured you'd eventually need it," she said as she set it on the table next to him.

How Trini did it Billy would never know, but without her he was certain half of his experiments would never get finished and he’d be completely lost. “Thank you,” he told her as he put a hand over the phone and gave her a quick kiss in thanks. He settled the phone back to his ear attempting to think of the easiest and quickest way to relay the situation to her, “I have to admit that I’m uncertain Adam. I’m at a few critical junctures with certain experiments and designing zords takes times.” He leaned forwards and added something he’d just remembered to the pterodactyl.

"Billy!" Adam half pleaded with him. "I can give you Cam's email address, but I really need your help with this man… please."

Trini cuffed Billy gently on the side of the head. "You will help him with his zords, won't you?" She said crossing her arms over her chest and giving him her patented 'yellow' look.

“Ow,” Billy hissed as he glanced up at Trini. He waved his hands at the schematics as if to say ‘see working on the problem already’ before he told Adam, “Trini says that yes I will and I know better than to argue with Trini. I’ll need to contact Hayley and see if I can get any schematics of the old zords, then I’ll contact Kim and have her look over the schematic I already have drawn up, I’ll likely take the time to pay Zack that same curtsey. Then I’ll need you and Kira to look over the designs and suggest any idea you might have. Also we’ll need to brainstorm on where exactly we’re going to get the parts and I’ll need to actually see Xander’s zord before I can even begin to fathom how we’ll put them all together.” He really was going to need this Cam’s e-mail address.

Trini leaned down and grabbed the phone, "Don't let him kid you Adam, while I did tell him to help you, he was already working on the schematics." She laughed as Billy yanked the phone away and gave her an indignant look.

Adam laughed, "I really appreciate it Billy. I'm sure Hayley will give you the schematics she's got, and I think her and Tommy managed to back up all the files from the remains of the command center, that should help you too. I don't know about the parts… we may have to put in a call to Hartford, he built all of Overdrive's zords."

“Intriguing,” Billy mused, already in this short amount of time he had two other tech’s names. While bouncing idea of Hayley and Justin made for good conversation he was always up for adding some new techs to his list of friends. He copied down the contact information as Adam gave it to him. After he had them down he wrapped his arms around Trini, pulling her close and into his lap. He gave her a quick hug and handed Adam off to her as he sent quick e-mails detailing where he was at with schematics and the help he could use with ideas to Cam, Hayley and Tommy. Hopefully he’d have a rough start on their zord and megazord designs by the end of the day. He gave Trini a quick kiss on the cheek and began to type up additional e-mails to Kim and Zack. He shook his head with a smile, “Trust Adam to find me such an interesting puzzle to work with.”

After she got off the phone with Adam she looked over the emails he was writing. "What are friends for?" she said with a soft laugh. "Do you think you'll be able to get this to work? I know the combining is going to be a pain, considering you've got three completely different sets of zords, unless you just use the schematics for the dactyl and repaint it yellow…" she pondered that.

“Well as I’ve just added two techs to my list, both of whom seem to understand zord building, I’m sure we’ll mange to come up with something.”

"I always thought Kim’s zord would look good yellow," she giggled. "Don't tell her I said that though."

He joined in her laughter, pausing to give her a kiss on the cheek, “If she really doesn’t like it we’ll blame Tommy.”

“Yeah, it is his fault… that was his team," Trini agreed, wrapping her arms around him. "Have I told you today that I love you? Cause I do," she said kissing him softly.

Billy accepted the kiss and reciprocated. “You might have reminded me this morning,” he teased as he pulled away. He cupped her cheeks and smiled, it never ceased to amaze him how beautiful she was. Happy that such an amazing woman could love him he kissed her again.

"Well… let me remind you again," she murmured readily accepting his kisses.


	4. Chapter 4

Deason looked down at the Earth, the planet his wife Ruxandra would soon rule. He turned to look at his dark goddess, his eyes taking in her beauty. He smiled; just as soon as they defeated the Power Rangers, she would become the ruler of Earth and from there they’d spread their evil across the universe.

“They’re not even a proper band of rangers,” he mused, “All different costumes and powers; it should be easy to run them ragged. Shall we send the putties my queen? Startle them, and give them a hint of who one of our minions is.”

Ruxandra turned to him. "No! No putties yet!" she exclaimed, then sighed, if she said it once, she said it a million times. "Finster hasn't made enough yet! Rita's problem was she'd make a batch, send them down, than they'd get beaten. We’ll make enough to overwhelm them, soften them up, then send a monster down for the finishing touch. How many times do I have to explain that to you? We're here to fix Rita and Zedd's mistakes, not repeat them!" she ended in a shriek, followed by the sigh of the put upon.

“My love,” he attempted to sooth as he approached her, “It was merely a suggestion. I’m just excited at the thought of this world being yours.” He pulled her into an embrace, staring up at her in devotion, her brilliance left him in awe, “What other mistakes did they make? How will we correct them?”

"She didn't go after them individually enough," she said, letting herself be held. "She never worked hard enough to split them apart and pick them off one by one. It's easier to defeat one than it to defeat an entire team."

She pulled away from him and walked to the balcony, looking out over the planet in the distance. "We have an advantage she never did, which is they are thrown together," she said looking back at Deason, "Only two of them have ever worked together consistently before, Tori and that fluke of a ranger Dustin. It will be easy to pick them apart; they haven't developed that bond that the original rangers had."

He joined her on the balcony, watched her bathed in the Earth light, “So we find their weaknesses one by one and take them down, but who do we start with my love? Which Ranger is just crying to be separated from the others and ripped apart as the weakling they are? Shall we start with the fluke, or perhaps the leader? Maybe the empath or one of the females? I had a thought for the green, my younger sister hasn’t had an opportunity to play on anyone’s emotions recently and she’d so enjoy reeling him in and then spiting him back out. It’ll take her some time to get here, but just say the word and she’ll join us.”

"Send for her at once. When she gets here, we can use her to infiltrate the rangers, she will be of great use to us," Ruxandra said firmly. "As for who to take on first, I should think it would be obvious," she said with an eye roll for her companion. "That Adam, the leader, he doesn't even want to be the leader. It will be so easy to convince him he will be the downfall of their team. He will fail and lead to the destruction of the others. I remember reading the reports Zedd had been sending to Dark Specter, this one is particularly susceptible to blows to his confidence. Zedd used the Mirror of Regret, which sadly was destroyed due to a brat who, by some freak act of nature, managed to win his bully friends over. What we need is a way to destroy his confidence that is fool-proof." She began pacing as she thought about ways to destroy the veteran ranger's confidence.

“At once my queen, I’ll send for her. Perhaps for Adam a monster that would give him the illusion that the other rangers fighting around him were failing and blaming him, or perhaps we could invade his dreams and show him them falling due to the orders he gave. Or other illusions, I know your thinking is far more sinister when compared to mine.”

"You're damn right it is," she said firmly with a glare to match her 'sinister thinking', "I think a combination attack is perfect, but we must plan it out to perfection, we cannot, like our predecessors did, one night of dreams and then bam! An attack. No, we must spring this attack on Adam when he is truly at his weakest."

Deason nodded his agreement.

"You know, humans have a stupid superstition that if you dream something multiple times, it will come true. I think a week of particularly heinous attacks on his subconscious would prove to be beneficial, then when he's truly wondering if he can do this, we spring that monster on him. A two pronged attack will truly work to perfection," she turned to him. "We shall destroy the rangers… this world will be ours, we will succeed where Rita and Zedd failed."

With that said, she began to laugh sinisterly. Oh this will be fun, she thought to herself.  
The sound of her joy was music to Deason’s ears. He smiled as he waited for her to meet his gaze again, "When we have succeeded in picking him off, who shall we destroy next?"

"Patience my idiotic love… patience, plans seldom survive the first engagement with the enemy, remember that," she chided.

“Yes, my love,” he stated his agreement. It was something he knew already and though he saw no faults in planning ahead, if she didn’t want to hear it he wasn’t going to push the issue.

"We worry about the others, once Adam is taken care of," she said firmly. "Now let us go check on Finster, I wish to see how he is coming with our modern day putties," she commanded, holding out her hand for his, which Deason readily took. Wherever she would lead, he would follow.

~~~~~*****~~~~~

Kat paid the driver and slipped out of the taxi with her duffle bag, it was all she had with her as the rest of her things were being shipped. Throwing it over her shoulder, she headed towards Adam's ground floor apartment, knocking firmly on the door. She'd gotten the first flight out of London after departing from her dance company. She didn't think she would be returning anytime soon, it would stir too many bad memories of the fight she had with her dance partner over her departure.

Dustin stretched as the sound of a knocking door woke him. "Oh man," he complained. "The girls were right, this couch is lumpy." He shook himself, annoyed that he'd fallen asleep while trying to mediate yet again. He ran a hand through his sleep tussled hair. Then he padded towards the door and opened it with a smile, "Hi. Adam's like not here, but if you like want to leave a message I'm sure I can find some paper or like something."

Kat laughed. That’s when he took in the young woman standing there. Wait, she looked really vaguely familiar...she was the second pink ranger. Dustin brightened, "Hi!"

"I didn't know Adam had a human answering machine," she teased and then took another look at him, noticing he was in yellow. "You must be Dustin," she hazarded a guess.

"Yep, dude, how'd you know?" Dustin asked before he launched into an explanation, "Well it's kinda distracting with everyone around and I need to practice meditation so Adam said I could come over here, but I like keep falling asleep. And I was like so determined to get it right this time."

"Lucky guess," she replied with a laugh, and then nodded at Dustin's explanation.

He stepped back in case she wanted to enter, "Oh, Adam's at his dojo doing some like work stuff."

"Right then… do you mind if I wait here for him? I wanted to surprise him, I came for moral support," she said stepping into the apartment. She could see it was half empty. "So you guys are already moving into your new place?" She asked, having been kept appraised of the situation by Rocky and Aisha.

"Yep! It's like so cool. It's like huge dude. Everyone's got their respective colors; Bridge even has his first color. I even managed to get a yellow room, though I said I'd take whatever was left. Oh and we like so totally made sure that Adam got the master bedroom. It was like weird, he like tried to protest but we all shot him down," Dustin bounced excitedly.

"That's Adam, thinks of everyone else before himself, its part of what makes him a good leader, even if he doesn't think so," she said watching Dustin bounce around the room excitedly. "I can see why you have issues with meditation," she said shaking her head.

Dustin attempted to still, "Yeah I like tend to fall asleep when I try. Sensei even said I was like a lost cause, well actually he said I would learn when the time was right. Oh, and like Adam’s totally a cool leader cause he doesn’t like try to lead, he just does it, like he just knows how, but like doesn’t like realize he know how.” Dustin paused to scratch his nose, “Dude, did that even make sense? Oh and you’re um Kat right?”

Kat laughed, the boy was a trip! "Yes, I'm Kat… and yes it actually made sense," she said with a smile. She decided maybe he could use a bit of advice on his meditation issues, "Meditation isn't about sitting still, it's about focusing your mind, so why don't you do something while you meditate?"

"Yeah?" Dustin said, cocking his head to the side, "That like makes sense. The like only time I can stand being still is when I'm in the earth and riding usually calms me, but that's not very like meditative."

"I dance while I meditate, I could sit still alright, but I could never focus," she suggested with a shrug.

He shrugged in return, "Tori's got some idea or something, but we've been so busy trying to settle in, we really haven't like had time."

"It's like... well with me, dancing is something I can do in my sleep, I don't need to think about it… so I start dancing, and then when I'm in my zone… I can focus my thoughts, and pulling everything inside my skin," she said with a smile. "Tori might be trying to work something like that into something you do well, sparring maybe. You're from the Ninja Storm team right?"

“Yeah I’m Ninja Storm,” Dustin grinned, "Oh they like have monster alarms here, and they were like broke, but now there like fixed. How cool is that?"

"I remember them… the only time I ever heard them going off was during tests… we were always already fighting the monster when the alarms when off," she told him.

“Yeah, they’ve just been like testing them I think…It’s like weird we like haven’t had a battle yet. I think the bad guys are still trying to get their barring, which is like so good cause like so are we.”

"That's good for you… from what Jase and Kim told me, they just got thrown into it… zord battle their first time out," she told him. "I got to see it from the other side first; I was turned evil before I became a ranger."

“Dude!” Dustin gave her a quick hug, “Being evil like sucks, cause you like hurt people you shouldn’t and you feel like so guilty afterward, but there was no way you could’ve like stopped yourself.” Dustin deflated, “The whole being evil thing was like bad. Are you like okay now? Dude, cause I like had these horrible like nightmares afterward.”

"At first I had nightmares, but Tommy had been through it too… he helped me, now I rarely think about it," she said with a smile. "I very rarely get nightmares now, at least about that time," she added. Then it dawned on her, "Oooh… you were on the team that fought against Tommy's kids… right?"

Dustin nodded staring at his feet, “Yeah, we like totally worked them. It was like not cool, but then the other three on our team Hunter, Cam and Blake went into the Abyss of Evil and got our real morphers with our real power disks and not the evil power disks that Lothor had given us and then we were good again. It was like why I always wore my morpher so I could know I had the good one on and wouldn’t be tricked again. We didn’t remember what’d happen right away when they turned us good, but then it like all came back.” He paused to scratch his head, “You know it’s kinda weird to hear Doctor O. being called Tommy. He’s like tried to convince me to call him that and I’m all ‘no dude’ that’d be I don’t know just weird.”

Kat laughed. "Do you know how weird it is to here people call him Dr. O? The Tommy I knew, he was a motorhead and the most forgetful man I've ever known. How he got his bloody doctorates is still a cause of a good-natured discussion amongst us of the older generation," she giggled at that thought. They always teased Tommy about how he managed to get his education so quickly, mostly by insinuating that Hayley forged his documents. They loved riling him up.

"Dude," Dustin smiled, then he shrugged, "He like so had Hayley. I like had Cam and I like so wouldn't have my associates if it weren't for him cause I'd be all dude I don't get it and he'd actually explain. Some teachers suck at explaining. What about you what do you do?"

"I am…" she paused when she realized her mistake, "I was a dancer for the Royal Ballet company in London, I was accepted by their school straight out of high school, I only attended for a year before being offered a position as a principal dancer," she smiled at the memory of that long ago accomplishment.

Dustin blinked confused, "Um was?"

Kat smiled, "I decided that I wanted to pursue other interests besides being a full-time dancer, so I resigned from the company." She shrugged, "I was getting tired of all the backstage drama, and realized that as much as I love dancing, I love kids just as much, so I'm thinking about opening up a dance studio here in good ol' Angel Grove."

Dustin grinned at her happily, “That’s like so cool, so you’ll like be here? That’d be good. Adam can use all the friends here he can get, I think the rest of us kinda weird him out, but then like I guess we are kinda a rag tag team. I mean me and Tori are like trained ninjas and Sensei’s. Xander’s got magic, and like watch out cause he flirts with like everyone. Kira’s a musician and she’s yellow, so like we’re still trying to convince Xander she’s not to be messed with, but he so like doesn’t get it. Then we’ve got Bridge, who like babbles worse than me, is from the future, and oh he’s an empath and like stuff so you can’t like touch him unless he says it’s okay. I like found that out the hard way.”

Kat took everything he was saying in, nodding to herself, she'd have to watch out for this Xander, but Bridge she’d be able to handle since she herself had empathic abilities. She took a moment to wonder if his powers were passed down through the family, like hers were, before she responded to Dustin. "You guys are kind of a rag tag bunch of rangers, I mean… I can't remember a team ever having two yellows, not to mention only two of you have fought together before," she reasoned. "But when it comes to rangering I believe in fate, so the 'powers that be' had a reason to put you all together to fight these new villains." She finished firmly and took a seat on the couch.

"Well Tor and I are from a team that sorta had two reds and two blues so I guess the two yellow thing isn't too weird for me. Except that we're both calling ourselves yellow," Dustin explained then shrugged good-naturedly.

"I hope Adam is getting rid of this thing, it's so bloody lumpy," she said with a sigh as she shifted trying to get comfortable.

"Yeah," Dustin agreed, "He hasn't even decided what to do with his apartment yet, now that we're moving into the house, so the couch is probably the last thing on his mind. Hopefully Mr. Hartford will just let him keep the house when we're finished, then he wouldn't have to worry about the couch...unless he makes us moved it. I really hope he doesn't."

"It's the least that Hartford guy can do, letting Adam keep the house. I mean chances are he's going to get called back to action again after this, with the way things go. I don't know what it is, but between Adam and Tommy, they are going to be rangers into their eighties," she laughed, then turned serious, "As for this couch, mutiny against moving it, it's how we got Tommy to leave his craptastic chair behind when he moved to Reefside."

"Oh!" Dusin's eyes lit up as he dropped into a nearby chair, "Adam mentioned that some dude named Rocky was the only one who liked it...we should like send it to him while Adam's not looking and then hey it's gone and has been given to someone who wants it. And if he gets upset we'll just like give him one from the house. Actually that sounds sorta evil," Dustin frowned then groaned, "Obviously I've been spending too much time around Cam's cousins. They were evil and worked for Lothor, but decided to be good and have been training at the school. I'm one of their teachers. They helped rescue Sensei when Lothor made me, Tori, and Shane all evil. These new guys tried to recruit them, were going to hit them with something that would make them evil...luckily they got away, but Tor and I are still fuming. It was like so not cool of them, going after family of one of our friends, after they've tried to hard to stay good."

Kat had giggled at Dustin's idea of sending the couch to Rocky, the idea had merit. Her laughter faulted as Dustin explained about his friend's cousins. "That sounds like something Rita and Zedd would have tried, they had a machine back in our time, Finster created it, it would suck all the good out of you and replace it with pure evil, and it was irreversible.” Her face darkened a bit, "I had to fake wanting to be evil again so that Tommy could get the Zeo Crystal that was hidden under the Moon Palace. He saved me just in time." She shook her head to clear her mind, "You just have to remember that no matter how angry you get at what the villains do, you have to keep your cool in the heat of battle, passion will lead you straight into a battle without thinking, and that leads to trouble."

Dustin nodded in agreement, “And Sensei would like so not be happy with me if I forgot that. And then Cam would get upset because we like disappointed his dad…and oh man Cam upset is not like of the good.” He shrugged, “But we had two reds, well Hunter was crimson which well was kinda darker so we learned that lesson kinda fast. Hey are you hungry? I think we still have some things for sandwiches. Thankfully when we got here Trini had already come over and cleaned his fridge out for him. She’s like so cool.” Dustin grinned, he loved his fellow yellows, they were all so cool. Actually so far every ranger or former ranger he’d met had been really cool. Even Xander, if he ever learned to keep his flirting to a minimal.

"Starving actually," Kat said with a laugh. It didn't surprise her that Trini had already cleaned out the fridge, if there was a way to help out her fellow rangers, Trini would find a way to do it. "Airplane food is so awful," she said making a face. "Do you know if Adam still buys that really tasty Cajun roast beef?" She stood up and headed for the kitchen.

“Yeah, I think there might be some in there,” Dustin said as he thought about it, “Yeah there should be. I’ve been doing most of the cooking…yeah there is.”

"So… how do you feel about being thrown together for another ranger mission?" She asked as she opened the fridge and bent down inside it to look for something to eat.

Dustin blinked as she bent over. He was most definitely not going to check her out, even though it was next to impossible and she was gorgeous. He shook his head and grinned at the question, “It’s so cool! I mean I was like the only one on my team that wasn’t jealous that T got called back into action, but hey I’m not gonna complain that I’ve got my powers back. It’s hard sitting on the sidelines and watching someone you care about be the one saving the world, so I’d rather like be helping.”

Kat nodded, she knew exactly how he felt. It took all she had not to pack up and head back to California when she found out Tommy was back in action. "I can totally relate," she said standing up with the roast beef in hand. "When Tommy became a Dino Ranger, I wanted to be here so badly," she said finding the bread and making herself a sandwich.

“Yeah, I mean I knew to expect it when she got called, cause I’d seen how Cam handled sitting on the sidelines until he got his powers, but it was still like not easy,” Dustin nodded before he joked, “Do you think if Dr. O. becomes a ranger again he’ll change colors again?”

Kat laughed, "I think if he becomes a ranger again, he should wear pink, he's been Red, Black, White, and Green, he's running out of colors." She leaned against the counter and watched Dustin unobtrusively, he was more outgoing than the other yellows she knew, more hyper. He reminded her of Rocky, and a sudden thought hit her, those two should never meet, nobody would understand them.

Dustin laughed, “Dude that’d be great! You know I think Hayley threatened him with that once…she’s like as good at making moprhers as Cam is when it comes to Zords. Do people change colors a lot? I mean I know Bridge has been three colors, but that cause of a ranking system. I don’t think I’d want to lose yellow, I like being yellow.”

Kat shook her head. "I don't really know, since the Turbo/Space team, there hasn't been a team that's been active for more than one mission," she said heading over to the table and taking a seat. "Rocky went from being Red to being Blue when we switched to the Zeo powers… and Tommy, well…" she shrugged. "He lost his green ranger powers, gained white ranger powers, then went from White to Red when he became Zeo Five."

“And then black for Dino Thunder,” Dustin nodded, “And like was Adam black then green? I think that’d it’d just be confusing for me. One color is enough.”

"I agree… but I didn't have a choice," Adam said from the doorway of the kitchen. He looked from Dustin to Kat and blinked. "I…wha… Holy shit," he gasped as she got up and smiled.

"Surprise."

Adam wrapped his arms tightly around her, "What on earth are you doing here?"

"Moral support, didn't want you to go through this without someone who wouldn't rile you up," she said hugging him back just as tightly.

Dustin watched them with a smile on his face before he shook his head with a laugh, “Dude you so thought I was talking to myself, didn’t you?”

"Well when I left you were home alone… and I couldn't see Kat, but you could have been talking to one of the others," Adam pointed out. "But yeah… I did think you were thinking aloud," he said with a smile, still hugging Kat.

Kat laughed and smacked Adam's arm, "Lemme up… I need to finish eating your food," she said slipping out from his arms.

"I see how it is you get here and start eating, you're worse than Rocky," he said ducking the punch he knew was coming.

"Stuff it, arse," she said making a face at him. She turned to Dustin, "See… I come all the way across the pond for moral support, and he's being mean to me."

Dustin laughed, this was probably the most relaxed he’d seen Adam since this whole mess had started. It was nice to finally see a genuine smile on his face.

“Not too mean though, he hasn’t like taken your food away and like if he did…I can so totally cook,” Dustin smiled, preening slightly. No one ever believed right away that he could cook until they let him.

Adam laughed again, he felt relaxed for the first time since he found out they were going to be working together for an actual mission, "I wouldn't dare take food away from her, her claws come out when you do that."

Kat smacked him in the shoulder, "Humph…" she crossed her arms. She looked over at Dustin, he said he could cook, she had no real reason not to believe him. "You cook? Now I know we're definitely keeping Rocky away from you, he'd keep you locked up in the kitchen."

"Dude couldn't be worse than after a mission. Our team was all guys ‘cept for Tor and well she can eat when she sets her mind to it," Dustin shrugged as he got himself something to drink, "Someone had to keep Hunter from poisoning us all, he so can't cook." Dustin frowned, "Oh dude, I so don't want to think what'll happen when it's time to teach Bridge to cook. He's like gonna be so lost. I think the toaster kinda even intimidates him."

Adam looked pained for a moment as he thought about the disaster waiting to happen.

Kat shrugged, "Start small… get him familiar with the basics, don't throw a full meal at him or he'll freak out, baby steps," she suggested.

Dustin blinked at Kat. She really hadn't met Bridge yet. "Um he like took the toast from the toaster and was expecting it to already be buttery. I had to teach him how to butter toast." As he listened to his own words Dustin's eyes widened, no wonder Adam had thought he was going to go crazy. How was it normal to have to teach a twenty-three year old that if you want buttery toast it actually involved buttering the bread and waiting until the bread is out of the toaster, that you can't do it beforehand? He sat down eyes wide, "Dude. Small yeah, like sandwiches and work our way up. There's like not a whole lot of ways you can like mess up a PB and J is there?" Suddenly he was quite sure Bridge would find a way. Dude, if it wasn't like quite so scary it'd be kinda fun!

"We need to make sure there are fire extinguishers in the kitchen," Adam said with a small groan.

"Dude I like already took care of that," Dustin reassured as he finished his drink, "There were a few already in the house and I like went and got some more, cause well Xander and the whole magic thing kinda still freaks me like out. If it was me I would like so accidentally set something on fire.”

"Relax Adam," Kat said stepping behind him and rubbing his shoulders. "It could be worse…"

"Wanna tell me how?" Adam retorted, though his body was starting to relax under Kat's ministrations.

"You could be the leader of a group of newbie rangers," Kat pointed out. "AND, Cole could be here instead of Bridge."

Adam shivered at the thought, "God forbid," he muttered. Out of all the rangers he'd met, Cole just rubbed him the wrong way. He had a cockiness that didn't fade with experience.

"Nah, we want Bridge, he's smart enough to let Adam led, every other red I've met would've insisted on taking over," Dustin paused to frown, "I think. Even Hunter might have and he's not even red...hey like who's Cole?"

"The red ranger of the Wild Force team," Adam replied, "Wild Force was already established when they found him, and he became their red, their 'leader'…"

Kat was quick to cut off what would become a ranting session, "Suffice to say that he's a cocky lil' bastard, lets leave it at that."

"Jason doesn't even like him," Adam felt the need to add. "Jason likes all the rangers."

"No, Jason respects all the rangers," Kat corrected. "He has very little respect for Cole since the 'lets all be reds together' mission."

Dustin blinked, obviously they were in need to a subject change, “Dude there was like a reds only mission? Must of like happened before our time cause we didn’t team up with anyone until Lothor tricked us.”

Kat eagerly jumped on the subject change. "I believe it happened the year before you're team was activated," she said still rubbing Adam's shoulders. "Every red from Jason up through Cole joined together to stop the remnants of the Machine Empire from reactivating a big ol' zord that could have destroyed earth with one shot."

"Every red except Rocky," Adam pointed out helpfully.

"Well yeah, except Rocky. Tommy couldn't get a hold of him in time, Rocky's probably the busiest with his job," she explained to Dustin.

"What does he do?" Dustin asked.

"He's a social worker," Adam replied.

"He has a large case load because he's good," Kat explained. "He realized when he worked with Justin that he had a knack with pre-teens, and Justin's situation really got to him, so that's what he decided to do. He also runs a couple of martial arts camps for teens."

Dustin nodded at their answer. That made sense. Then he tilted his head and asked, "Hey would Hunter have been considered a red? Cause he's like crimson and he mostly wears dark red, but sometimes red and then these other time I swear he's wearing maroon."

Kat and Adam both laughed but it was Adam who responded. "Tommy and Jason and I talked about that the last time we got together, they both think that Hunter would be a red, because crimson is a type of red, and he has that red mentality from what I've been told, brooding leader type," he said with a smile. "Not that I'd ever call Tommy or Jason the brooding type," he said innocently.

"Bollocks," Kat muttered under her breath, laughing at the 'look' he shot her.

Dustin fell silent. They’d talked about his team? Hopefully it was good things because his team had won eventually even if he, Tori and Shane had sorta been the only ones left to inherit the morphers. He grinned abruptly as another thought occurred to him, “Dude that would mean Cam and I were the only ones not repeating colors.”

Adam nodded, "Yeah… and also, you were the first male yellow," Adam pointed out.

"That put a fox among the hens, let me tell you," Kat said with a laugh. "But I think you do the color proud," she added with a smile.

Fox among the hens? Huh? Dustin blinked confused. Oh wait, cause he was the first guy, okay. He grinned, "Thanks! It's kinda cool being first, but I'm glad I'm not the only one and Chip's cool. It's nice to know someone I can talk with about comic books, even if it's only been online. And all the other yellows I've met have been really cool."

"It's nice to know that the male yellows aren't like the female yellows," Adam said with a smile. "I mean, you and Chip are laid back, cool, relaxed… where as Trini and Aisha are likely to rip limbs off first and ask questions later," he joked.

"I am sooooooo telling them you said that," Kat teased. "You are gonna be in soooo much trouble."

"You wouldn't," Adam gasped.

"Oooh, I so would," she retorted.

"And she says 'I'm' mean," Adam scoffed.

“I refuse to take sides,” Dustin laughed, “Oh dude, I’d hate to think what would happen if Kira and I had the same personality, we’d like have hurt each other our first night.”

"One feisty yellow is enough," Adam said with a nod. He looked over at Kat, "Kira's just like Aisha, you wake her up before noon and she's ready to take somebody's head off."

Kat laughed. "Typical yellow trait, Tanya's the same way, you know that all too well," she teased, watching Adam's cheeks turn red. "How many times did you get smacked trying to wake her up to get off you?"

"Kaaaaaat," Adam nearly whined, his cheeks still red. "You're mean."

Dustin laughed as he watched their leader finally relaxed enough to joke around, and even blush. "Not me, I tend to get up early and generally go for a run or something," Dustin nodded before he sighed, "And I did try meditating again, but it like so didn't work."

"We'll figure something out for you Dustin, don't worry too much about it," Adam told him.

"I gave him a suggestion, using movement meditation," Kat threw in.

Adam nodded. "Tori ran that by me too," he looked over at Dustin. "I think it would work, I'd have to teach it to you though, Tori doesn't know how to do it."

"Yeah? I'll give anything a try, I don't want to accidentally hurt Bridge," he frowned, "Tori knows how to meditate, even Hunter." He put his head in his hands, he'd tried numerous times and if there was another way to learn then that would be good because some of his students had difficulty with meditation and if he learned another way, maybe it'd to more than help Bridge, maybe it'd help them too.

"Personally, I think it's more difficult than sit down and focus meditation, but I learned that way first, which might be why. I think considering you're experience with martial arts, you should adapt rather quickly," Adam told him. "After we get all moved into the house, we'll put aside some time so I can explain it to you and give you the basics."

As Adam talked, Dustin gathered up his glass and Kat’s dishes intent on cleaning them. He didn’t want to leave a mess in Adam’s place. He finished taking in the words as he added soap to his water. He turned with a grin, “Yeah? You really think I could learn? Cause that would be like so cool.”

"I really do man, I think you'll be good at it too," Adam replied firmly to reassure him.

Kat nodded and walked over to the sink, rinsing the dishes and putting them away once she dried them. "So when will you guys be completely moved in?"

Adam looked around the apartment. "Well, hopefully by tomorrow. I don't think I have room for my couch though," he said with a sigh. "Where am I gonna put it?"

"In Rocky's living room," she whispered to Dustin, smothering a giggle.

Dustin nodded in agreement before he said, "Um dude, why don't you like leave it here for now...let us get the rest of the stuff and then figure it out." That should give them enough time to get it sent away.

"Yeah, I'm going to have to," he said looking over at it. He didn't really like it all that much, but it he didn't want to get rid of it, a couch was a couch. "So are the girls still out shopping?" He asked Dustin.

"Yeah, Bridge really needed more clothes. I can't imagine not having access to my stuff, that'd just be like I don't know, weird."

Adam nodded, "Definitely."

"It's probably down right horrible for him too," Kat added. "When I moved to London, the moving company lost the boxes with most of my clothes in them, I had literally a suitcase left of my clothes. I was devastated."

"She cried on the phone for like a week," Adam felt the need to add, a little payback of his own.

"Stuff it," Kat said waving a hand at him. "That's besides the point."

“That’s awful,” Dustin agreed, giving Kat a hug, “I’m sorry, that was just like mean of them. Hopefully they compensated you or like something.”

"Oh they definitely did, the wrath of a pink can trump even the wrath of a yellow if they are scorned," she said smiling at the hug. "Adam… can I keep him?" She asked playfully, hugging Dustin back.

Adam laughed. "No, you can't have my yellow… well, one of my yellows," he said shaking his head. "He's one of my best fighters, plus he can cook. He's invaluable."

Dustin blushed, suddenly no longer feeling bad about not getting his meditation right.

Kat gave Adam a look that said, 'see you do make a good leader', and chuckled at Dustin's blushes. "Well I can't argue with that," she said with a sigh. "I guess you can keep him.”


	5. Chapter 5

Tori flipped through the rack of men’s T-shirts. "Bridge you need more clothes… Red stuff," she said with a shrug. She had never been one for shopping, she'd always been more of a tomboy.

Kira laughed. "Yeah, but he needs jeans too and another jacket, underwear. Oooh, some swim trunks for when we head out to the lake," she rattled off the items he needed. She'd never been much of a girlie girl, but Tori seemed a bit hopeless, and that little personality switch back in her ranger days made her appreciate a good shopping spree every once in awhile.

Bridge looked around the store they'd dragged him into. He'd thought they were getting him acquainted with 2007, what did a mall have to do with that?

"Red stuff?" he said with a tilt of his head, "I can like pick out my own underwear." He actually had a system for that. Since most of the time the outside clothes he wore were red, his underwear was either blue or green and his socks the opposite color. He'd left all his thing with the SPD logo on them at home, all he really had was his uniform, some pajamas, two jeans, five shirts, two of which had been given to him by Mack.

"You need a few more pairs of jeans," Kira argued.

"Shoes," he decided, giving in. After all he'd been dragged on shopping trips with Syd numerous times and neither Kira nor Tori struck him as the die hard shopper she was, "I've only got the one pair and they'll be useless for exercising in. And if I'm going to have T-shirts I need longer sleeves to wear under them."

"I agree with the shoes," Kira said biting her lip. He needed long sleeves, but in the California weather he'd swelter. "Thin cotton long sleeved under the t-shirts or you'll get overheated," she said walking over to a rack that had undershirts.

"I'm used to it. Try running drills in this weather in long sleeves. Should've seen my first team leader...he tried to convince me to go shirtless," Bridge shuddered at the memory. He hadn't gotten along with his first squad leader. Thankfully he'd met Syd and Sky shortly after he'd joined. That reminded him he had nothing to exercise in, maybe they'd been right to take him for clothes as this mission was lasting longer than he anticipated.

"Just because you're used to it, doesn't make it okay," Kira pointed out, checking the tag on a few undershirts making sure they would 'breathe'.

"How bout this?" Tori said pulling out a red vintage wash t-shirt that had the coca-cola logo on it.

He blinked at the shirt Tori held up for him. If he was going to be a walking advertisement the only thing he wanted to advertise was SPD and that wasn't possible because it was only 2007, they were just starting to go public. He groaned, "You know this is a lot less complicated when you just have to wear the same logo on all your clothes."

"Welcome to 2007," Tori said patting him on the shoulder. She put the shirt back and picked up one and started giggling, it had a big 'Hello My Name Is" tag on it and 'scribbled' on the tag was 'Ninja'. "I should so get this for Dustin," she said showing it to Kira, who started laughing.

"I agree, but that's not helping Bridge," she reminded her. She held up a green t-shirt with a giant faded red star on it, "What do you think Bridge?"

Bridge tilted his head to regard the shirt Kira was holding up and couldn't help the smile, "That could work as it has my first color and my new color on it. This is going to take awhile isn’t it? And it’d probably help if I started looking too.”

He brought a hand up and paused staring at his gloves, he’d only brought two pairs. He wouldn’t need more than that, right? This mission would be finished soon and he’d be going home to SPD. Soon, he promised himself as he blinked at the crazy multicolored shirt on the rack, “Who in their right mind would want to wear this?” He paused to give the girls a confused look. Kira and Tori both looked at the shirt.

"Ewwww," Kira said shivering a bit.

"Totally agree," Tori said making a face at the shirt. "It's too loud."

Kira sighed and then spotted a bright yellow t-shirt. "Something is calling me," she said with a laugh and picked it up off the rack, it had a black screen print of a stack of stereos on it. "Oooh, this is mine," she said with a smile. She then reached over and grabbed another shirt, "Hey Bridge how bout this?"

Kira held up a faded red-black checkered t-shirt with a peace sign in the middle. Bridge wrinkled his nose, he liked the yellow shirt for Kira, but not the other one, "It's making my eyes go weird." He blinked and shook his head, "No, not that."

He pushed several of the other shirts out of the way, and found a long sleeved red shirt with black designs up the sleeves. He shrugged and held it up for them to see.

"Cool," Kira said nodding appreciatively.

Tori nodded as well, "I think it'll look good on you."

Bridge nodded and draped the shirt on his arm. He moved shirts around again, avoiding the darker colors, his eyes falling on a green one, but it had no red. He bypassed it and kept looking. At least sizes were still similar. He frowned as he looked it over, "How do you tell how it looks on you?"

In his time that was done electronically, but it didn't look like that was the case here. He blinked as he came across a girl's shirt in the middle of the guy’s shirts. It was blue and stitched up the sides. He held it out for Tori, "Here, this looks more like you then me. Well, except if Jack was here then he'd just be putting it on to be silly."

"Who's Jack?" Tori asked, taking the shirt from him and holding it up to herself.  
"My teams original red," Bridge explained and smiled when it seemed Tori liked the shirt he'd found.

"I like it…" Tori confirmed with a grin.

"Me too," Kira agreed and then answered Bridge's question. "Fitting rooms," she said pointing to the back. "You go in and try them on to see how they look on you. Come on," Kira said leading him towards the back.

"Wait," Bridge said digging his heels in, "You mean I have to put on clothes to decide if I want them, which probably means someone else has put them on and decided they didn't want them. That's just weird and if you think about it a bit gross. It's a good thing Syd's not here. I don't think she'd be a big fan. She might even be throwing a fit and ah...how big are fitting rooms?"

Thinking about Syd made him realize that he was essentially clothes shopping with Kira Ford. The Kira Ford, Syd would be thrilled. Syd would be freaking out. Syd might actually be trying on clothes. Syd might kill him when he got home. When had his life gotten this complicated? Kira and Tori were pushing Bridge, despite his efforts to stop them.

"That's why you wash the clothes when you get home," Kira pointed out. "Leave your undershirt on if you think it'll be that gross.”

Tori pointed to the 4 x 4 rooms in the back. "They're pretty big, all things considered, I've tried stuff on in smaller ones," she replied.

"So by big do you mean big or are you just saying big cause there are smaller ones?" Bridge asked, not quite sure he liked where this was going.

Kira sighed, "They're about average on the scale of fitting rooms, there are smaller and there are bigger, less talking… more moving."

Tori nodded, "I think they're pretty big, the ones at Storm Chargers are really small."

That's when Bridge spotted the rooms. He squawked and jerked away from them. He shook his head, eyes growing big, "Too small. Way, way, too small. I'll like just take what I think fits and go from there. Trying on um isn't something I've ever had to do and I'm not sure I feel comfortable starting now." He gulped in several deep breaths and reminded himself he hadn't actually stepped into the small space and that the walls weren't going to start closing in. "I'm claustrophobic," he managed, "Dr. Felix says it's perfectly understandable given what Bork did to me and...that is way too small."

"It's okay," Kira said giving him a hug, being sure to keep from skin to skin contact. She wasn't sure she wanted Bridge to know what was going on in her head. Tori bit her lip. "Look over there," Kira said pointing to the side wall. "There's fitting rooms there that have a curtain over the front instead of a door. Would that help?"

Bridge wrapped his arms around Kira as she hugged him. It reminded him of Syd, when he’d said something to upset her. It also helped to calm his suddenly slightly frayed nerves. “Thanks,” he said as he pulled away and looked to where she was pointing. He nodded and twisted his face into his contemplative look. That might work, it wasn’t really closed in and if he was going to be stuck in 2007 he might as well go a bit native.

"What did that Bork guy do to you?" Tori asked before she could think. “Sorry, you don't have to tell us if you don't want too," she added quickly, realizing it might be hard for him to talk about if it was something that induced a fear of closed in spaces.

“No, it’s okay,” Bridge shrugged, he figured he could at least tell this story as it really only pertained to him, as long as he didn’t give away too many details. He glanced around to make sure no one was too close to hear him, “He kidnapped me and broke my morpher. At least I think he broke my morpher, that might have happened when he knocked me out and then he wouldn’t have broken it. I do know he put me in this room and I had to fix my morpher so my team could get a location on me or I could at least contact them. Then the walls started closing in, but Jack found me before they could squash me. Actually I think during Jack was more upset than I was and Sky took it pretty hard, but that’s understandable si…and Syd was mad and so was Z and Cruger did this thing where he looked all growly which I suppose is normal since he’s actually a dog. Kat even thought up plans to stick a tracking device in me but Dr. Felix told her no. Since then I haven’t really like small spaces. I can handle being in a zord, but not really anything else.”

Kira started to say something about Bridge breaking off in mid-sentence after mentioning Sky, but then it dawned on her that if he was from the future, maybe there were things he couldn't tell them. "That's horrible. I'd be upset too," she said not letting go of him. "I hope you're team took care of that asshole."

Tori nodded. "I'd of put him in the middle of a tsunami," she agreed. She was coming to care for all of her teammates, which led her to believe that there was more to the bonds she shared with her original team than just friendship, something in the powers pulled you close together.

"Oh he's carded," Bridge attempted to reassure with a smile as he returned Kira's hug again, "Did I ever actually explain what carding was?"

"No," the girl chorused together, looking at each other they shared a laugh.

"Oh," Bridge scratched his head trying to think of the easiest way to explain carding without giving away the science, "Well it's actually a containment card. We make them small and put them in the card and then file them. So it's prison, just they serve their time in a card. It's about this big." Bridge showed them with his hands, "It makes things easier."

Kira's jaw dropped, "Like… so you could have an entire prison in like an old shoebox, righteous."

Tori nodded in agreement, too speechless by the idea of that type of prison.

"Yeah, I guess we could keep them in a shoebox, but we use filing cabinets instead," Bridge nodded before he took the clothes, "Am I suppose to just try them on and then pick or am I suppose to show you and then you can like tell me if I look like I'd fit in?"

"Show us," Kira replied.

"Yeah, sometimes guys have a really skewed sense of what looks good on them," Tori added. "You don't know how many times I had to stop Blake from…" she sighed, she didn't want to talk about Blake. “Anyway… no offense," she said putting a smile back on her face. Kira gave her a hug.

"Good things…" she murmured. She knew Tori and Blake didn't have the best break up in history. "Just think about good things."

Bridge nodded. Maybe just like there were some things he couldn’t say about Sky there were some things about Blake Tori wasn’t going to say. He reached out and gave her shoulder a squeeze before he took the clothes they’d found, and went into the dressing room she’d indicated earlier. He tugged on a thin grey long sleeved and then put on the green t-shirt with the red star. It seemed to fit okay. The sleeves covered the beginnings of his gloves. He stepped out and suddenly felt subconscious. He really had meant it, he’d never really tried on clothes until he’d worn them for the first time.

“I like that fit on you," Kira said with a smile.

"You look hot," Tori added. Kira nodded in agreement.

Bridge contemplated that for a moment. Providing that 'hot' meant the same thing now, which is probably didn't, but sometimes Z like to use older terms so than 'hot' was good. Wait that couldn't be right because he wasn't 'hot', 'hot' was a word Z reserved for Sky and sometimes Jack, not him. Still he knew from shopping with Syd that sometimes you trusted the girl and just went with it. "This is a yes then," he smiled before he ducked back into the changing room.

Kira giggled at his contemplative look. "He's so cute when he's thinking," she whispered to Tori, "But in a 'definitely not my type' sorta way."

Tori nodded, "I think so too… he's goofy like Dustin, but more serious at the same time, which is like completely weird."

Bridge tried on the red shirt he’d found next. He frowned down at it. It was too small, his stomach was showing. With a shake of his head he took it off and tried on a blue long sleeved with another red shirt that one of them must have snagged. It had a symbol in blue that he didn't recognize on it. He stepped out, "The red shirt was too small, unless shirts are suppose to come up to here." He indicated with his hand where the shirt had ended, "Is this okay?"

"I like that shirt," Tori told him.

"So do I, and yeah, that other shirt had to be too small, midriff bearing t-shirts went out like twenty years ago," Kira told him. "If you like the design, I can find you the next size up."

He smiled at her, "If you don't mind. Something I don't have to end up layering would be nice." He ducked back in and tried on a pair of jeans next. He stepped back out, they were lower on his hips than he was use to, "I think I would have to wear a belt."

Kira went off to hunt for that shirt in a bigger side, so Tori was by herself when he came out again. "Hold on," she said pressing her lips together in thought. She walked over to him. "I'm not getting fresh, I promise," she said with a smile and tugged on his pants. "Well, they are a low rise sit, so they are going to be lower, but they aren't baggie. It's the style more than anything," Tori said as she stood up. "I don't think you'd need a belt."

Bridge nodded his understanding, "That makes sense. I guess I'm used to uniforms. We don't wear civilian clothes all that often." He went back in and tried on another pair of pants. They seemed a little tight, but for all he knew that was normal to. With a frown and a slight hope that he wouldn't have to keep them he stepped out.

Tori gasped, those pants were definitely too tight. "I…" she shook her head.

Kira walked up with a shirt and a pair of kacki's, "Holy shit… umm, I don't think you're going to be able to fight in those," she said biting her lip. "Definite no."

"Oh good," Bridge sighed, "I was worried they were something else I didn't know about."

That said he took the other clothes Kira had grabbed, thanked her and went and tried both on. He was also thankful he hadn’t come out with the too short shirt if the too tight pants had made them look at him like that. He stepped back out, "This is better."

"Much" Kira replied.

"Totally," Tori agreed. "Let's get this stuff and then hit that new store that opened down on the other side of the mall, I heard they have really good bargains."

"Oooh yeah, we should," Kira said with a smile. "Come on Bridge, get changed."

Bridge agreed, and changed back into his clothes, he kept the clothes they’d decided on in hand and gave them a puzzled look as he held up the clothes he didn’t want, “What do I do with these?”

Kira took them from him. "Most places either have a return basket or a return rack," Kira said setting the clothes in the bin marked 'return'. "If you don't buy them , you put them there so they can hang them back up at the end of the day."

"Oh, that makes sense."

"Yup, now let’s check out and go do more shopping," Kira said heading up front with Tori and Bridge.

"After you," Tori said to Bridge and followed them up front, holding her purchases.

At least the checking out process hadn't changed too much and Bridge could understand that one. It was strange though, the girls carried their own bags instead of shoving them at him.

As they entered the next store they were greeted enthusiastically by several employees and one approached them. "Hi, can I help you with anything today?" he asked.

It took all Kira had not to snap at the over-enthusiastic employee but she smiled. "We're on a shopping spree," she said in her 'I'm being nice but you annoy me' voice.

Tori chuckled a bit at Kira's demeanor and smiled at the employee. "Mostly for him," Tori said nodding at Bridge. "He needs a new wardrobe."

The young man seemed to shrug off Kira’s attitude and take her words at face value. He looked Bridge over, “Anything in particular you’re looking for or are we talking whole new wardrobe?”

Bridge blinked, not quite sure how to answer that.

"Thin long-sleeved undershirts or shirts, t-shirts; his favorite colors are red, blue and green, jeans…" Tori rattled off for Bridge.

When Tori had finished listing Bridge’s needs and received a grateful look from Bridge the employee then took time to look over the girls, "And are you sure I can’t encourage you ladies to have a little fun?"

He did not just call me a lady, Kira thought, shooting a glare in his direction, before she could open her mouth though, Tori pinched her. Tori smiled at the personal shopper. "We may indulge if we see anything that catches our eye," she replied as nicely as she could.

"Sounds like a plan," the young man grinned before he led them over to the guys section of the store all the while chattering at them, obviously trying to put Bridge at ease and get a smile out of Kira. As he started pulling aside shirts that fit Tori's description he held one up to Bridge, "Yeah, that should be about your size."

"Oh, he’s good," Tori whispered to Kira.

"He's paid to be," Kira replied watching them. "It looks like Bridge is relaxing a bit."

Tori nodded her agreement.

"So this stuff will work for general every day stuff and this could double as something to work out in, but let's talk dressing up," the employee segued happily as he picked up a dress shirt and held it up. He frowned, "Nah." He held up a few more shirts, setting some back and throwing a few more onto the pile in his arms obviously basing some of his decision by the look on Bridge's face or his own personal taste. "Generally you're only allowed to try about ten items on at a time, and they encourage less, so let's get you started and go from there."

Tori and Kira watched almost dazed as the employee flipped through clothing.

"Wow…" Tori whispered softly.

"He does know what he's doing," Kira admitted, seeing most of the clothes he grabbed would look amazing on Bridge.

Bridge was a little dazed, yeah he wasn't as nervous as the last store, that had gone well, but this was sort of a whirlwind. "I'm claustrophobic," he managed, not about to get shoved towards the changing rooms by a guy he didn't know. The girls, not so much a big deal, but he didn't know this guy.

The guy blinked, "Okay, we have a larger changing room and a few that have curtains instead of doors."

Bridge shrugged, "Curtain worked last time."

The guy grinned, led Bridge to a room giving him clothes, "Let me know if anything ends up not fitting and I'll get you a different size, or you could just give us a show..."

"Should we do a bit of shopping while Bridge tries on his stuff?" Tori asked, cocking her head towards the ladies section.

"We should," Kira said with a laugh, linking arms with her as they walked over to their section.

~~~~~*****~~~~~

Jason was beginning to suspect that Adam kept finding excuses to come into work to escape that madness that was the house he was living in. At least when he was rangering he had been able to put it aside when he went home, Adam was now living with his teammates. Still, that didn’t account for the tired look on Adam’s face. Concerned for his friend he dropped into Adam’s office, took a chair and asked, “So, how are things going?”

Adam sighed, "Could be better… no attacks yet, which worries me because Rita and Zedd threw attacks at us all the time," he said running a hand over his face. "I've been having these screwed up dreams, an order I give the team leads them into a trap, or worse…" he let the 'worse' hang there, knowing Jason would know what that implied. "They're so young, I don't want to make a mistake that would hurt them."

"They’re probably plotting," Jason suggested as he tried to think of a way to reassure Adam. "Hey, we were younger, and they know what to expect. We really need to find a way to get you over this thinking you’re not a leader thing, because I've seen you with them, you are."

Adam shook his head, "I know that, I do. But they way they look up to me," he sighed. "When we first worked together, Bridge was in so much awe to be working with me, I don't know what the future says about us, but here in the present, it's a lot to live up to."

Jason laughed, "It's really not that far into the future. I mean we're still probably all alive when Bridge becomes a ranger. Besides Bridge definitely falls under the category of..." Jason struggled to find the right word and eventually just shrugged and finished, "unique." That said he changed the subject, "The thing that I find strange is this super power stuff."

Adam laughed flat out at that, "I swear, every team has super powers now. Kickin' ass and takin' names went out of style years ago. Now it's all about the genetic powers. Well Tori's comes from her training, but still… Tori controls water, Kira's got a scream that will bust your eardrums, Dustin can merge with the earth, Xander has magic with nature, and Bridge… well Bridge is like a psychic dictionary." He sighed, "It makes me feel outdated man…"

“If you’re outdated what would that make me? The Ninja stuff I get, I mean when you guys had Ninja powers you did some rather weird stuff. Magic, well I’m not sure how you wouldn’t call some of the things we did and went through magic. Kira well, the Dino gem things was weird, but at least she can’t go invisible on you. Tommy invisible,” Jason paused to shake his head, “And other than the tracking thing I really don’t see how Bridge’s powers are useful. Did Bridge get his powers the same way Kira and Xander did, by getting his morpher?”

"Weird stuff," Adam smiled as he remembered their Ninja powers, "I got super huge and squashed a Tenga," he said with a laugh. "As for Bridge… he was babbling about it, I think it was a lab accident." He stretched in his chair, "But the Overdrive team, they got genetic enhancements from Hartford, he offered it to me but I told him the day my fists and my feet can't protect me from monster attacks is the day I hang my hat up for good."

"Yeah, that'd just be weird and for all we know all it'd have done was make you taller or something," Jason teased.

"Like you're so tall," Adam muttered, making a face at him.

Jason sat back smugly and with a teasing smirk told him, "Hey, I'm taller than Justin, call me when you manage that one."

"Justin is like less than half an inch taller than me," Adam protested, leaning over to punch him playfully.

"Hey man, shorter is still shorter," Jason laughed before he changed the topic back to what Adam had first mentioned, "I had nightmares too, when I first started to lead. Typical I'm gonna screw up and get my friends hurt sorta stuff...so I mean if you want to talk about it?"

Adam sighed, "They're so vivid, and they're always different, different monsters, difference choices I'm making, but always the same outcome, my team is decimated and it's my fault." He leaned back in his chair again. "I'm almost dreading the first battle right now, scared of what is going to happen."

Jason sat up, that wasn’t good. “I’m sure your first battle will prove to you that these dreams are just that, dreams,” Jason reassured trying to think of questions to ease the stress Adam was under and to make the dreams less real, “Any monsters we’ve seen before?”

Adam shook his head, "No… not really, they seem… it's weird, they seem like improved versions of the types of monsters Rita and Zedd threw at us," he sounded disturbed by that thought.

“Now that’s disturbing,” Jason shuddered, “but we do keep comparing these two to Rita and Zedd, so maybe that’s what’s getting to you?”

"It's possible, but something isn't right, I just wish I knew what it is," he closed his eyes in frustration. "I've been sleeping for shit lately, because of these dreams."

That wasn’t good, Adam needed his rest for any up coming battles, but he likely also didn’t need that pointed out to him. Concerned Jason asked, “Not right how?”

"That's just it… I don't know!" Adam exclaimed in frustration. "It's just a feeling, a tickling in the back of my head that says, 'something isn't right', but I can't figure   
it out."

Jason raised an eyebrow at Adam’s raised voice, obviously Adam’s nerves were more frayed than he thought. He knew that lack of sleep could affect a person, but Jason pressed his lips together and frowned sitting back in the seat, “Didn’t Tommy say he and his ki…team were attacked in their dreams once?”

"Yeah, but these Rita and Zedd wannabe's haven't even sent down one attack on us since making their presence known. Not even one. Why would they attack dreams before they've even tested us?" Adam said dismissively.

“It was just a thought. You’re pretty stressed and if that’s not a reason I wouldn’t know what is. Just remember, your team wouldn’t be following your orders if they didn’t think they were good ones. I’m sure if they don’t like one they’ll let you know."

"What if they don't?" Adam got up and started to pace in the office. "What if they think that just because I'm a veteran, and just because I was a ranger longer, I won't make a bad decision?"

“Everyone makes bad decisions Adam, even rangers. They’re not stupid, but if you’re worried they won’t give their input ask for it. Just, try to avoid asking Bridge, you’ll never find the point among all his theorizing,” Jason advised ending in a teasing tone in hopes of calming his friend.

Adam chuckled a bit, "You learn to pick out the important points in Bridge's babbling," he said leaning back against the wall. "I'm over-thinking this aren't I?"

“You’re stressed and antsy because they haven’t attacked, not really over thinking because that’s kinda one of the standards, thinking though your options for your team,” Jason told him.

"It is sad that I want them to attack?" Adam asked, feeling a bit selfish. "Battles are what makes a team bond, helps build trust. Right now our team's bond is fragile, the girls want to kill Xander on a daily basis; that needs to stop real quick." Not to mention it'd help calm my nerves, he added to himself. He hated it when villains took their time, it usually meant bad news.

“What he’d do now?” Jason groaned

"What doesn't he do man, he thinks every woman is going to fall over for his charm, he tries to charm the girls, the girls try to rip his head off, it's a vicious cycle man," he said with a chuckle.

Jason shook his head before he suggested, “You could always try some of those team building exercise; I mean I know most of them are dorky, but it’s at least something. Or just have a team movie night or dinner or something where you’re all hanging out.”

"We're having a movie night at the end of the week, baring a monster attack."

"See now you've just jinxed yourself and made plans, now you know when the monster will attack."

"At least movie night can be rescheduled. I swear they say patience comes with age, but I remember being patient in high school man, now, I want the first battle done and over with. I need to know what we're up against." He shrugged, "Not that I can't keep myself busy till then, stopping the girls from killing Xander, keeping Bridge from burning down the kitchen and teaching Dustin fighting meditation because any time he tries regular meditation, he falls asleep."

“You’ve got your hands full man,” Jason said with a shake of his head before he told him ruefully, “Have Xander meet Aisha, if that doesn’t teach him a lesson he’ll never forget, nothing will.”

Adam laughed, "I don't want him dead. How could I explain that to the rest of his team? 'Sorry but a yellow ate him'."

Jason chuckled, “"Maybe they'd thank you and then you'd have an excuse to stick a morpher on Tommy. ‘Here man, be your original color, we had to get rid of the last guy he drove us insane'..."

Adam couldn't help but to laugh again, "I think his original team would be more appt to kill me for harming their ranger. As for Tommy…" he trailed off. "I think Tommy's ready to officially retire, though you know he's gonna wind up in suit again, it's his luck."

Jason snorted, “Tommy will be eighty and clutching both his cane and his morpher…I fear for our future. The only question is what color will he be next?”

"He's slowly working on every color of the rainbow man," Adam joked. "He will be the first male pink ranger I just know it."

“He has to be, he missed being the first male yellow, though I have to admit the color suits Dustin…the guys being the opposite of the girls.”

Adam nodded, "He really is suited to the earth, but the Ninja Storm's colors are so messed up, I mean Tori's makes sense… but Dustin should be green or black since he's an earth ninja, and Shane should be yellow since he's an air ninja, Red's a fire elements color."

“They don’t work the way yours did and if it really bothers you ask one of them. I’m sure they know the origin of their colors. Besides Trini seems pleased with Dustin being a yellow and I can’t say she’d say the same for Shane since I haven’t met him.”

"Ooh, I didn't mean their personalities don't match their colors, because they're personalities fit their colors to a tee," Adam explained. "I mean… it's weird thinking about yellow and earth and red and air," he explained. "Dustin's a yellow, no doubt… Tori's the first female blue, and I haven't met Madison yet, so I don't know if the calm, cool, collected trait suits her too."

“Ask Xander? Hey, didn’t they have another male yellow and a kinda yellow sounding pink?”

Adam nodded, "Yeah they had a male yellow too. I guess he and Dustin share a common love of comic books," he said with a laugh. "I should really ask Xander, I know Trini was going to do some study about colors and what character traits fit what color."

Jason smiled, “Well naturally reds are the best color. Though I’m thinking Trini’ll find that not everyone lines up. I mean here I am the responsible one, but I’m not always hungry or getting my mind screwed with by the bad guys.”

"Rocky was hungry even when he was blue… and Kat can put away the food when she chooses to, too," Adam pointed out. "Besides… black is where it's at bro," he felt the need to add.

“And if I argue with that I’m sure Zack would somehow know and make me regret disagreeing,” Jason laughed, “Do you think she can do that, find similar traits in all the rangers of the same color?”

"It's Trini, she can do anything," Adam replied firmly. "But you have to admit, there are some general traits that rangers of one color and gender seem to share, and of course that pink ranger/red ranger scenario that keeps popping up. I mean Tommy and Kim, Tommy and Kat, TJ and Cassie had some sort of a fling, and they were red and pink at one point in time, Leo and Kendrix, Wes and Jen, Dana and Carter, Jungle boy and Alyssa… it's unnatural man, and it makes me glad I don't have a pink on my team" he said shaking his head.

“Alyssa was pink? Oh man, I’m out of the loop. I thought she was the first female white.”

"Well she had pink on her uniform… so she's pink," Adam said waving a hand. "But even with out them, it's still weird."

“Hmm,” Jason pondered with a smirk, “So do most greens like yellows?”

"I was black before I was green," Adam pointed out. "And Zack did have a fling with Trini in Switzerland. So blacks like yellows," Adam said as he felt his cheeks go red. "You suck man."

“Not all though. Tommy’s with Hayley and she…okay I could see her getting a morpher and it being yellow. Andros dated his yellow so that’s a red with a yellow. Wasn’t Danny with his team’s blue? Kira’s dating her team’s white. Did Will like Ronny at all? And hey, me and a pink never happened so I guess we’re wrong…”

"I didn't say it worked for every team, it's a pattern," Adam pointed out. "Besides, you can't tell me you never were jonsin' after Kimberly," he added with a smirk.

“What?” Jason asked attempting to look confused and profusely glad he didn’t blush as easily as Adam, “She dated Tommy. I don’t go after my friend’s girls.”

"Doesn't mean you don't have eyes," Adam pointed out. "Anyway, that's beside the point, which… I don't even remember what the point was," he admitted with a laugh.

“Me either,” Jason laughed, “How do we end up doing that?”

"Don't have a clue, but it seems to happen often, doesn't it?"

“It does, doesn’t it?” Jason agreed, happy to finally see some of the tiredness go out of Adam’s eyes, “So what were we trying to talk about?”

"I think it was Trini and her study of colors and personality traits, coinciding with the gender of the ranger," Adam said after pondering for a moment. "But…" he stretched, "I should probably head back home, Kat went to acquire a car, which means the team is home alone, I don't know if I trust them alone together in the house yet," he said with a chuckle.

"Sounds about right," Jason nodded then smiled, "I'm glad Kat's back, and you're probably right, but hey maybe you'll get lucky and the house won't be a disaster.

"You aren't the only one glad she's back," Adam said with a warm smile. "She's a huge help." He grabbed his jacket off the back of his chair. "As for coming home to a disaster free house, well, one can only hope." He walked over to the door, "I'll call ya later man… you gotta come by soon and see this gigantic house. Kat swears she's gonna get lost."

“Will do,” Jason agreed, “See you later bro.”

"Later man," Adam said as he headed out.


	6. Chapter 6

Adam was leading the team on a 'walking tour' of Angel Grove, "And this is Angel Grove Park, probably the most famous spot in all of Angel Grove," he said with a chuckle, noticing scorch marks that still plagued some statues, and a few trees that had bare spots where branches had been destroyed during monster attacks.

"Why?" Kira asked as she walked arm in arm with Tori.

"Does it have something to do with those scorch marks?" Tori asked.

Adam nodded, "Yup, we…" he coughed, looking around, there were civilians in the park so he had to be careful, "I mean… the power rangers used to get attacked here, all the time."

Bridge pressed his lips together tightly, not about to let it slip that eventually there’d be a statue of the original Power Ranger Team in the middle of the park for that very reason. He looked around what to SPD cadets was considered a historical site not sure how he felt about being shown it by the second black ranger. He shook his head. Yes, his life tended towards the weird, but somehow this was a bit too much, even for him.

Dustin shook his head, “Dude, all the time? What’s like with that? In Blue Bay Harbor the monsters seemed to like the quarry for some reason.”

Adam laughed, "It's always some place, the baddies always pick one spot to constantly attack, for us, this was it."

~~~~~***~~~~~

Ruxandra glared down at her viewing sphere, watching the rangers walking through the park. "Perfect! Deason!!" She screeched for her inept lover. "Tell Finster to send down the new and improved Putties!"

Deason blinked at her, looking up as he put his lunch down, “Now? Shall we send the monster as well, my love?

"Did I say send down a monster?" She paused for a few seconds. "No! I didn't! I said send down the Putties!" She shrieked at him. "I want to test the rangers… see how good they really are. Besides… don't you think it will be fun, when Adam realizes that our Putties are from his dreams? It will just make things worse for him. If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times," she said walking over and pushing his lunch out of the way, "We're not going to make the same mistakes that Rita and Zedd made." She leaned forward, her face inches from Deason's, "Is.That.Clear!"

Deason jumped startled as his lunch went flying. His eyes widened as she invaded his space, “Yes, my love. I was merely asking for all the details so as not to make a mistake. It will be glorious fun and all in your name.” He pressed a quick kiss to her cheek hoping it would sooth her frayed nerves and then stalked out to find Finster.

Ruxandra smiled at the kiss and went back to the viewing sphere, intending to watch the moment her Putties attacked. They would finish the job Rita and Zedd had started. They would definitely rule the earth.

~~~~~***~~~~~

Adam paused next to a statue, "This thing became a monster once, nearly took out the rangers," he said patting the side of it. It had happened before his time, but he knew the story well, the other rangers had told it many times.

Kira squinted up at it, "This is the statue that became the monster that the rangers battled when Dr. O… I mean, the White Ranger first showed up," she said a bit in awe. Tommy had told the story to his team once when they begged for stories about earlier rangers.

"That would be it," Adam nodded in agreement.

"Wicked," Kira murmured.

Dustin’s eyes widened as Kira expanded on what Adam had told them, “Dude.”

Bridge tilted his head to the side. Syd had once missed a question about that particular monster on a test and he had had to hear about that particular battle for the better part of a week.

“So if this is the place to get attacked does that mean you think we will?” Xander asked.

"I don't think so. I mean most villains try to do their own thing, why would they choose this place?" Adam responded.

Just as he said that, a squad of foot soldiers that were grey with glowing red eyes protruding from expressionless faces materialized all around them. They began circling the team, moving closer and closer.

"I think you spoke too soon," Kira said looking over at Adam, who was staring at them in disbelief. "Adam!"

"What?" Adam asked shaking out of his daze. How could they be real? These were the foot soldiers from his dreams. "Bust through…" he ordered, "Spread out, take them down… only morph if you get overwhelmed."

“Dude,” Dustin commented, “they look like really freaky Kelzacks.”

Bridge ducked as one went for him, he lashed out with his foot before he rolled away and jumped to his feet.

“Hi…” Xander tried, but never got to finish as a putty launched itself at him.

Dustin shoved Xander out of the way, and as he began to fight the putty told him, “Plan Xander is so not going to work against the mindless foot-soldiers, save that for the slightly more intelligent monsters.”

"Like it even would work then," Kira muttered, ducking under the punch of a putty. "Get'off me," she said kicking the thing away from her and ducking under an attack from a second one. "Fugly things," she commented punching one in the chest, knocking it into another.

“Hey, it’s worked!” Xander protested as he pushed himself off the ground and launched himself towards the patrollers that were surrounding Dustin. Dustin kicked and punched not liking the way this was going.

Tori ran off a distance and taunted the foot-soldiers into following her, "Can't catch me," she called, jumping out of the way of an attacking putty. She ran through the group, ducking under blows and delivering kicks and punches of her own.

Adam quickly shook off his daze as the others spread out, he jumped up onto the base of the statue and kicked at the three that initially came after him, "Freaky… wannabe Putties," he grumbled, jumping onto the shoulders of one and flipping off it, delivering a kick to its back as he came down.

“Okay dude, that’s like it,” Dustin growled before he launched himself into the ground, away from his enemies. He moved himself behind them then launched himself out of the ground at them.

Xander froze for half a moment when Dustin disappeared, that would never stop freaking him out. Traveling though trees, now that was normal, disappearing into the ground and coming out somewhere else was just weird.

Kira yelped as she got knocked into a tree, "That hurt," she glared at the putties who were gathering in front of her, intent on cornering her into the tree. "Oh no you don't!" she said before letting out a powerful ptera-scream, knocking all her attackers to the ground.

The majority of the putties were intent on attacking Adam, and he was struggling to keep himself from being overtaken, "Why are you all attacking me?" He questioned aloud, jumping back up onto the statue to get above his attackers.

Suddenly a wave of water washed all his attackers away from the statue, he looked up and saw Tori grinning at him, "Figured I'd wash away your problems," she said with a laugh.

Bridge had easily launched himself into a back flip that had landed him right in front of one of the patrollers. It’d leaned away from him slightly startled and that allowed him to launch an attack. He grinned, then yelped as another grabbed his arm. “Hey!” he protested attempting to yank free. He kicked at another putty that came at him from the other side. Then another came and another. He couldn’t get the first putty to drop its hold on him as he also attempted to keep the others at bay. “This is not good,” he muttered to himself as he tried to pull the first patroller around and push it at the other two, but all he succeeded into doing was landing himself on the ground and pulling that thing on top of him.

"Bridge!" Tori grabbed one of his attackers off him; then grabbed a second one, shoving it into the first. She guarded Bridge from new attackers until he could get to his feet, then helped him split them into two easier to mange groups.

“Thanks,” Bridge told Tori as they launched into an attack together.

"What the hell," Adam growled as he ducked blow after blow from these creatures. "Why, won't, you, just, die," Adam said, accentuating each word with a kick to its midsection. At the last kick, the putty clutched its stomach and exploded into a thousand specks of clay. "Bout damn time," he panted, before jumping at another one.

"These things need to hurry up and dust," Kira complained, leveling another group with a ptera-scream. "They are worse than the T-drones," she said scissor kicking a particularly nasty patroller, causing it to explode as well. "Finally…" she leaned on her knees to catch her breath before facing another attacker.

Dustin stuck close to Xander, not comfortable with letting the young man out of his sight. He only moved away, taunting the creatures to follow, when Xander fell into the comfortable routine of using his powers to take out the foot soldiers.

“Dude!” he cried out triumphantly as one finally exploded.

It seemed as the modernized Putties had begun to reach their limit. One by one they began to explode. Ruxandra watched in delight, even though her Putties were starting to explode, they'd significantly worn the rangers down, "Deason! Finster!" She shouted, "Bring the army back! Now we know what we're up against," she ordered.

“At once my Queen,” Deason agreed as he began summoned the remaining putties back to them.

“What? Hey where’d they go?” Dustin protested as they disappeared.

Bridge gasped and grabbed his knees. As he caught his breath he shook his head, “That was weird. I never read about Putties being used after Zedd stopped using them.” He took in his teams confused looks and explained, “I got an A in Ranger History.”

“They teach a class in Ranger History?” Xander asked before he smiled, “What’d they say about me?”

“Not the time, Dude,” Dustin told him with a clap to the back.

"They probably said…" Kira paused to catch her breath and clear her throat, "You were the ranger most likely to get your ass kicked for trying 'Plan Xander'."

“Hey! It’s worked. Why fight if you don’t have to? And,” Xander protested, “you won’t know if it’ll work if you don’t try it.”

Dustin whimpered, “No in fighting right now, not while the bad guys are probably watching.”

Adam leaned against the statue, panting a bit as he caught his breath. "Well… that will teach me to never open my mouth about something not happening again," he commented.

Tori walked over to him, "Were they really Putties?"

Adam nodded, then shook his head, "Yes… I mean they looked like Putties, and acted like them, but they were stronger, and faster than the Putties that I remember," he wiped the sweat off his forehead with the hem of his shirt. "It's like someone took Zedd's design and made improvements, removing the Z-Putties weak spot and pumping them up with steroids."

"Just the image I wanted," Kira said in a raspy voice as she walked over to where Tori and Adam were standing.

Dustin dropped onto the ground before he flopped onto his back, “Dude, we got worked. That is like not good.”

Adam nodded, "I hate to admit it, but Dustin's right. We may have to morph the next time these things get send down to attack us, I just hate the idea of morphing for a skirmish with foot soldiers," he sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "I suggest daily training sessions for all of us, we need to be better than we were today."

"Great," Kira groaned. "Why don't we just morph and take them out?"

"If we have to morph just to take out the foot, what are the monsters going to be like?" Tori pondered. She didn't like that idea.

Adam looked around and bit back another sigh, he had to remember that these guys weren't his original teammates, with the exceptions of Tori, Dustin and Bridge none of them had fighting experience that didn't come with the suit. He’d have to ease Xander and Kira into the idea. "Because we need to conserve our powers for the real threat… the monsters."

“And that’s like so not good,” Dustin agreed, “Training on the other hand would be good.”

“But we know how to fight?” Xander protested weakly.

Bridge shook his head and pointed out, “Part of SPD is running drills daily and I still messed up. If it hadn’t been for Tori…” He trailed off to give Tori a grateful smile.

“We should try training together,” Dustin told Xander trying to ease him into the idea; “Since we both connect with the earth we might be able to learn something from each other.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Xander agreed intrigued at the thought.

Kira nodded, she saw their points, "I'll be the first one to admit, most of my skills came with the suit. As much as it pains me to say, Adam's right, we need to be training," she said making a face at the idea, but knowing that it was part of the job.

"Don't worry Kira," Tori said patting her arm, "I'm sure you'll pick it up quickly."

"Thanks," she said laying her head on Tori's shoulder. "So, are we still heading to Billy's?" She asked them.

Adam nodded, "Yeah, but lets head back to the house, so we can shower and change, Billy hates letting dirt anywhere near his tech equipment," he said rolling his shoulders, sighing in satisfaction as is shouldered popped.

~~~~~***~~~~~

Kat slipped out of Adam's room after shaking him awake from his nightmare. It’d been so vivid in her mind she hadn’t had a choice but to wake him. If it had been so vivid for her, she could only imagine what it was like for poor Adam. He was sleeping soundly, but the imagery of the dream was still ingrained in her head so she headed downstairs, hoping that a nice cup of tea would help get her back to sleep.

Once downstairs, Kat slipped into the kitchen, only to find herself not alone. Sitting at the table, a plate of toast in front of him, was Bridge. "Bridge? What are you doing awake? It's nearly four o'clock," she asked as she headed for the cupboard, intent on finding the tea Dustin had stocked in one of the cupboards.

Bridge looked up guiltily from his stack of toast. He set the piece in his hand down. He wrinkled his nose and shrugged, “My mental shields are weaker when I sleep so if someone has nightmares they tend to wake me up.”

"Adam's nightmares woke me up too," she said with a sigh. "I went in and woke him up though, hopefully they'll settle down now," she said as she filled the tea kettle with water.

"You know…Have you tried strengthening your shields before you go to sleep? If they tend to get weaker when you relax in sleep, strengthening them before you go to sleep might help," she suggested.

Bridge shook his head, “I hadn’t thought of that, but I’ll have to try it.” He frowned wrinkling his nose as another thought occurred to him. He knew why Adam’s nightmare had woken him up but…”Hey, how did he wake you up?”

"Ooh..." Kat paused, "His room is right next to mine, I heard him groaning and tossing and turning, I'm a light sleeper" she told him. And it was true, to an extent. She did hear him once she'd woken up, but it had been his vivid nightmare invading her subconscious that caused her to wake up in the first place.

Bridge nodded, something about what she said didn’t seemed to ring true, but he wasn’t about to question her about it. “He’s been having a lot of nightmares lately,” he commented before he took a bite of his toast. Toast was the cure for frayed nerves.

"I noticed," she said with a sigh. She couldn't remember the last time she got a good nights sleep. "But usually after you wake him up, he seems to sleep a bit more soundly, at least for awhile." She took the tea kettle off the stove just before it started to whistle and poured the hot water over the tea packet she'd set in the bottom of her mug.

“You’ve been waking him up?”

"I couldn't very well let him continue to sleep like that," Kat responded as she dumped the unused water out in the sink. "He looked so uncomfortable, I had to wake him up." Besides, she added to herself, I couldn't take anymore of that particular nightmare.

“I guess I see your point,” Bridge nodded, “It was brutal and I can’t ever see any of us questioning him like that.” Bridge’s hands flew over his mouth. Oh no, he’d just done that thing that Syd said he sometimes did with his foot and his mouth. He stared down uncomfortably at his toast.

"Neither can I," she replied and then looked down at her tea. "I mean... Adam's just not used to the leadership position, he was always comfortable taking orders," she explained, hoping to cover her slip up. "It wasn't until we had the Turbo powers that Adam started to step up into a leadership position, while Tommy was busy with his racing. I don't think he realizes just how good of a leader he is, there's always doubt in his mind." She took a sip of her tea and sighed; she wished he would wake up and see how much of a leader he really was. He wouldn't have been tapped for this mission if he wasn't a competent leader.

Bridge looked up and tilted his head to the side as Kat agreed with him. Did she have powers to? He’d have to ask Adam about the person he knew, see if it had been a woman or a man. He munched on his toast as she talked about Adam. He nodded, “He’ll figure it out and then we’ll get a good night’s sleep.” He paused to smile at her, “I’m just glad it’s not me. I mean its one thing to have been my team’s red for going on about a month, but to come into the past…no. He talked to me about it, but he’s the leader. He’s meant to be the leader of this team. He might not see it now, but maybe with time, maybe after our first battle. This sitting around waiting for them to attack just leaves room for doubts, but then again it does give us time to prepare for when those attacks do start.”

Kat smiled back at Bridge, he had a good head on his shoulders, regardless of his sometimes weird ramblings. "I think it's the waiting that's getting to him too," she agreed. "I think it’s because when we became rangers, the others were already in the middle of a battle, there was no waiting, just constant attacks. This waiting game with the baddies has to be putting him on edge."

“It’s starting to put us all on edge, the not knowing what to expect, but at least Adam’s the only one having nightmares. I mean there has been one here or there with the others, but he’s the only one having them consistently. I’ve even had one, but I think that had more to do with shopping and my claustrophobia than anything else. Kira and Tori were understanding though so I don’t understand why I still had the nightmare,” Bridge paused to shrug, “I’m glad you’re here though. Your company seems to help balance Adam’s mood.”

Kat smiled at that last sentiment. "I try..." she said as she held her mug between her hands to warm them. "We all affect each other differently; I tend to be the one who can calm everyone down," she told him, leaving out the part about how her empathic abilities helped her do so.

Bridge tilted his head to the side thinking about what she’d just said before he laughed, “I think I tend to exasperate everyone. I don’t mean to, but sometimes I get going and one thought just flows into the next until I apparently make no sense to anyone but myself.”

Kat laughed softly at that, "Rocky's the goofball of our group, Aisha has the tendency to get people worked up about things, which can be both good and bad. Tommy and Jason are both the take charge type, and also the broody type too," she shook her head, typical reds, she thought to herself. "Adam can be a bit of a worrier, but he also keeps things to himself, sometimes you have to draw him out," she explained smiling a bit as she thought about him.

Bridge smiled as he thought about the dynamic of his first team, “Jack was our goofball and our first red. Aisha reminds me of Z and Z’s yellow too. Sky’s always been more serious and about the rules, but he’s mellowed a bit in the last year or so. He still broods, but he’s starting to learn to let some things go. Syd’s…” Bridge paused to wrinkle his nose before he continued, “Well except for the one time we all did reports on reds for our ranger history class the only ones she ever wrote reports on were pinks because she said she was subtly hinting what color she wanted. She was so happy when she got it too.”

Kat laughed at that, "I was happy about my color too," she admitted with a smile. "I always did fancy pink, so when Kim passed on her coin to me, I was thrilled with fact I was going to be the pink ranger."

“Pink’s a good color. Syd and Z both refused to change colors when they’re promoted, but I guess Z will have to take red for me while I’m here. Syd’s been at SPD longer, but she really doesn’t want to lead and Z will have more of a knack for it,” Bridge told her before he smiled, “Syd will probably be pink until she retires.”

"There's something about us girls, we love our colors, we wouldn't give them up for anything," Kat laughed as she got up to set her mug in the sink. "You boys on the other hand, color changers, all of you," she teased. "Rocky went from red to blue, Adam from black to green, Jason was red and gold, and Tommy, well he's been green, white, red, and black, he's going for the rainbow effect."

Bridge smiled even though he knew he couldn't tell Kat about the other colors Tommy managed to pick up by his time period. "I can see that," Bridge nodded, "Though Z does have yellow and red in her aura, so I'm sure she'll handle red. Ranger aura's seem to be different than ordinary person's aura's. It's tinted differently, I guess, and most normal people's auras readily change color, but when a person is a ranger their color or colors seem to be what naturally make up their aura."

"Like they're outlined by their ranger colors?" She asked curiously. Aura reading was one aspect of the powers of empathy that she didn't have. Sometimes she wondered what it would be like to actually see what a person was feelings, rather than feeling it herself.

"Exactly, it's usually really pretty," Bridge told her with a smile, "Except Tommy, he's a bit too bright and mismatched."

"I can imagine," Kat laughed, shaking her head. "all those colors mixing up around him."

"If I were a kid I'd probably be fascinated by him, but six colors is really too much for one per..." Bridge snapped his mouth shut a look of horror on his face. He groaned and buried his face in his hands. Living in the past and keeping his mouth shut, how did they ever think he'd manage that?

Kat did a quick mental count of Tommy's colors, green, white, red, black, that meant.. oh lordy, she thought with a silent groan. Hayley's gonna kill Tommy. "We'll pretend you didn't say that, yes?" She said giving him a smile to let him know she wasn't going to say anything.

Bridge peeked through his fingers to nod yes at her before he told her with a groan, "Please, that'd probably be the best idea." With a mournful look he told himself he needed to learn to keep his mouth shut before he started on his last piece of toast.

Kat walked over and patted him on the shoulder, "It's alright, it's got to be tough for you," she sympathized. "I'm going to head back to bed, try and get some rest alright?"

Bridge smiled then promised, “As soon as I finish my toast. Goodnight.”

~~~~~***~~~~~

Adam tossed Dustin a staff and nodded towards the middle of the wide circle he'd drawn in the backyard of their new home. "You know the basics of staff fighting right? High, middle, low blocks and high, middle, and low strikes?" He leaned on his upright staff. He was hoping Dustin had, had some bo training, he should have, considering he was at the ninja academy.

Dustin felt himself relax as he caught the staff. At least Adam was using something he already knew in conjunction with teaching him how to meditate. He'd been worried he'd have to learn two new things, not that learning fighting from Adam wouldn’t be cool, just that on top of meditation would've thrown him. "Yeah dude," Dustin nodded.

"Alright, I'll teach you the strike-block combinations first, we'll practice them till they are reflex, then I'll get into the meditation technique," he said twirling the staff around, then holding in front of him. "Alright… the pattern is high block, middle block, low block," he said demonstrating each one out of habit, holding the staff horizontally over his head for the high block, just below his neck for a middle block, and at waist level for the low block. "Then, high strike, middle strike, low strike," he said demonstrating the movements again for each strike. "We'll alternate, you block, I strike, you strike, I block," he explained. "Any questions yet?”

"Nope, sounds good Dude," Dustin nodded with a smile happy that they were starting with basics.

"Alright then, let's start slow and as you get more comfortable we'll speed up the pace," Adam said, watching Dustin get into position. As he started the strike-block combination Adam coached him, "Try not to think about anything but the pattern, block, block, block, strike, strike, strike," he said watching him pick up the pattern easily.

Dustin nodded as he kept pace with Adam, taking in his advice.

Xander made his way to the training area Adam had set up. Somehow he'd managed to be late, oh well. He found a spot near the girls, "Hi." That said he passed them the bowl of popcorn he'd brought with him.

"Only you would think to bring popcorn out to watch a training session," Kira said with a sigh, but took a handful anyway.

Tori nodded, "You should be paying attention, you need to be learning to shield your thoughts too," she pointed out to Xander.

Adam saw Dustin picking it up quicker than he'd expected, "Switch it up, I strike you strike, high, high, middle, middle, low, low, alternating," he decided, moving that step up since Dustin was coming along so readily.

"I am paying attention, but who says I can't pay attention without popcorn and speaking of shielding...where is our resident empath?" Xander asked.

"Billy kidnapped him," Tori replied watching Dustin intensely.

"They started talking shop, then Billy dragged him away," Kira clarified.

“Well at least someone can understand him, if his wife’s not there I feel like I should be scrambling for a dictionary and I wouldn’t even know where to begin for that,” Xander shook his head, “Leave Bridge to understand genius.”

Dustin followed Adam's movements and nodded as he picked up the pace, "Okay dude."

"Hey, is um Dustin actually focusing on something?" Xander asked. It was odd, Dustin was usually laid back, but here he was watching Adam intensely and obviously paying attention.

Kira nodded, "It looks like it," she said a bit breathlessly, as she focused on Dustin's intense expression. He was rather hot when he concentrated. She immediately turned red at that thought and shoved it way quickly. You have a boyfriend, she scolded herself.

Tori watched Kira flush, then pale and smothered a giggle, she had a feeling she knew what her friend was thinking. She turned to watch Dustin once more, "I think this is just what he needed."

Adam smiled encouragingly, "Let's pick up the pace a bit more, focus only on the pattern," he said soothingly, "Strike, block, strike, block, again, again, again," he murmured, speeding up the attack pattern.

Dustin nodded, focused on what Adam was telling him, the weight of the bo and the sounds they made when they hit each other. It was soothing, a bit of what passed for normalcy in his life after the craziness of getting his powers back.

“I should’ve brought drinks,” Xander complained.

"You know where the kitchen is… go get one," Kira replied dispassionately, all her focus on Dustin…and Adam.

Tori laughed softly at Kira's response, "Don't mind her," she told Xander. "She's preoccupied."

After speeding him up, Adam stopped, "Alright… now the tough part," he pulled out a blindfold from his back pocket. "Put it on… oh, and for this next part… no powers," he told him. It would defeat the purpose of pulling everything inside of him if he let his awareness into the ground.

Dustin tilted his head, “Um dude do you mean like no connection to the Earth at all or no like cheating and using the earth to see for me?”

Adam thought about that for a moment, "No cheating and using the earth to see for you," he finally decided. "Put the blindfold on and relax, use your other senses, besides sight and your earth connection."

Xander looked towards Kira and then followed her gaze. He almost asked if her preoccupation had anything to do with why Adam looked so tired lately, but thought better of it. He wasn’t about to have his popcorn overturned onto his head. He shrugged, brushed himself off, gave both girls a charming smile and asked if they wanted anything from the kitchen.

Kira hadn't even paid attention to him, so Tori declined on both of their behalves. "I hope he can do this," Tori murmured to herself.

Adam waited until Dustin had the blindfold on and continued, "Don't follow my voice, don't try to follow my movement," Adam said hypnotically as he circled Dustin, twirling his staff. "Think of nothing but be aware of everything."

Dustin closed his eyes under the blindfold, listening to what Adam was telling him at the same time that a part of him was glad he wasn’t doing this with Hunter…he’d have ended up flat on his back amid laughter already. A part of him wanted to be tense, and yet another part of him trusted Adam. He took a deep slow breath to calm his nerves and listened not only to Adam’s voice, but the sound the staff was making as it was twirled in the air.

Quick as lightening Adam tapped him on the shoulders with the staff, "You're not relaxed Dustin," he said as he continued to circle him, "I'll thwap you if you're not relaxed," he said watching as Dustin was still attempting to follow the sound of his voice, "Stop trying to follow me, pull everything inside yourself and just wait, find your center," he coached.

“Dude,” Dustin allowed himself to complain. He wet his lips and tried to relax. He could do this, he told himself. He’d learn, but every other time he’d tried to learn to meditate he’d failed. How was…no, he could do this, he would do this. One of his teammates needed him to learn this and so he would. The moment of panic gone Dustin started to relax.

Adam had been about to whack him when he literally saw Dustin's rigid body stance relax into a more natural pose, "Empty you're head, you're nothing… and everything," he murmured circling him still. "When you find your center, and I attack, you'll block without thinking," he said and moments later he thrust a middle strike at Dustin. He smiled as Dustin barely managed to deflect his blow. "You're still not emptying your head," he said whacking him quickly in the shoulder. "Empty you're head…"

“Dude you should so tell Cam my head’s not empty,” Dustin muttered as he rolled his shoulders and then once again attempted to do what Adam had told him to.

"Less talking… more relaxing," Adam said, whacking him again. He started circling him again faster, "You can do this Dustin, just relax, remember when we were practicing, get into the zone, find you're center, I know you can do this," he murmured in that soothing tone meant to relax.

Kira kept wincing with each thwap Adam dealt out, "He doesn't have to hit him," Kira complained to Tori.

"That's how you learn," Tori pointed out, looking down at her lap to hide a smile.

"Whatever," Kira scoffed.

Dustin almost apologized, but kept his mouth shut instead, as he tried to get back to the feeling he had when they were practicing and he could see. He knew what he was doing before the blindfold, so he knew what he was doing now. He relaxed and kept his eyes closed beneath the blindfold, waiting and not anticipating. Trying too hard to anticipate Adam’s next move hadn’t worked.

"I can go where I want, I'm in my center, find you're center, when you find your center," he struck a low blow at Dustin, smiling as Dustin blocked it automatically, "That feeling you just had, keep it… hold onto it," he said, letting a bit of pride creep into his voice, he figured Dustin did good on praise.

Had he just…yes he had. A smile tugged at his lips, but Dustin pulled it back, not wanting to be distracted by his sudden happiness. He kept himself still, held onto the calm.

Xander dropped down by the girls, “So what’d I miss?”

"Dustin did it," Kira said with a grin, "He blocked Adam, blindfolded, it was cool."

Tori laughed, "That about sums it up."

Xander paused, put down his drink and looked at Kira. Was Kira liking on Dustin? Nah, Xander told himself, she had a boyfriend which she’d made painfully clear the first time he’d hit on her.

"Hold onto that Dustin, that's your center, study it… mark it, learn how to get there on your own," Adam coached, striking him again, watching him block it easily, now that he was in his center. "Now… pull everything inside yourself, where it should be, leave nothing projecting outside yourself."

Dustin nodded, trying not to tense up at the added level of newness. Everything in, he could do that...couldn’t he? Dude…he’d lost it, his center. Dustin huffed in frustration and started over, quickly getting back to where he was before he’d started to doubt himself. Everything inside, internalized, he told himself.

Adam could tell through his body movement, the tension, that he'd lost his center. "Focus Dustin, you had it… now get it back," he said with a quick tap to his shoulders. "You can do this." He continued to circle him, striking at him when he least expected it.

Relaxed Dustin managed, internalized took a bit more. He'd come this far though. He blocked automatically instead concentrating on what he was supposed to be doing.

"Good," Adam said as Dustin blocked his strike. After that he fell silent, walking the staff up and down Dustin's body, striking him from all directions, only noting when he lost his grip on his center.

"He's doing good," Kira said with a subconscious sigh.

"He really is," Tori said with a soft laugh.

"What?" Kira asked, finally looking away from Dustin.

"Nothing," Tori said with a smile.

"Whatever," Kira said turning back to Dustin and Adam.

Xander watched the exchange. Wait. A smirk spread his face. He stood then laughing dumped his glass of water over her head. “Cool off!” he advised before he broke into a run.

"Xander Bly!" Kira screeched, jumping up and taking after him.

Adam's concentration broke at Kira's screech, "Lesson's over man…work on keeping your center, you kept slipping. We'll work on it again in a couple of days after you've practiced," he said to Dustin before turning around to see what was going on.

"I'm going to send you back to Briarwood in pieces," Kira yelled before tackling him to the grass.

"Kira!!" Adam took off towards the grounded rangers, "You can't kill him, we need him!"

“Okay, Dude,” Dustin agreed, Kira’s shriek had totally ruined his concentration. He pulled down the blindfold in time to see Adam take after Kira and Xander. Bemused he jogged over to Tori, “Think we should help him?”

Tori nodded, "They both need to cool off," she said with a smirk. "Adam! Look out!" She yelled, frowning in concentration as she called up the power inside her.

Dustin nodded and flopped down on the grass content to let Tori handle it.

Adam looked over and saw Tori drawing on her powers and quickly rolled out of the way, just in time to avoid the powerful blast of water that soaked the green and yellow rangers, immediately ending the tussle in the grass.

Kira looked up, her hair over her eyes, "What'd you do that for Tori?!?!"

"You can't kill him, we need him," Tori said. "You should know better," she told Xander.

“Yeah, but it was so worth getting manhandled over,” Xander grinned.

"Why you…" Kira started to go after him again but Adam picked her up by her waist and carried her over to Tori and Dustin, "Put me down!"

"Okay," Adam said dropping her next to Dustin, "Please keep them from killing each other," he begged Dustin and Tori. "I need to head over to Billy's and see how things are going," he said before heading into the house.

Kira crossed her arms and just glared over in Xander's direction. He was still grinning. "One of these days…" she muttered.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Some spoilers for 'The Exorcist'. Also don't worry about Trent, he will eventually redeem himself.

Xander entered the living room, final bowl of popcorn in hand. Several others were already scattered on the tables along with everyone’s drinks. He took in his teammates and raised an eyebrow. Kat and Adam were on the loveseat talking. Bridge was on the floor in the middle of the room obviously excited to be seeing a movie he’d never seen before. It wasn’t any of them that got the raised eyebrow. Cuddled up on the couch were Tori and Kira, with Dustin between them. He started to smirk. He never got to open his mouth to comment. Dustin shot him a look, “Don’t Dude.”

Xander laughed. He’d heard that Dustin had a hard time sitting though movies sometimes and that cuddling with him assured that he’d stay. It was just a bit unfair that he got both girls. Shrugging at his luck Xander turned off the lights and flopped down beside Bridge and offered him some popcorn.

“Oh popcorn,” Bridge smiled as he took some, then frowned, “Why’d you turn the lights off?”

“Scary movies are better in the dark,” Xander explained, “And ‘The Exorcist’ definitely counts as scary.”

"It's like one of the scariest movies EVER," Kira said with a little shiver.

"Nightmare central," Tori agreed. "I had nightmares for a week the first time I ever saw this movie."

"Wimps," Adam teased, ducking down to avoid the hail of popcorn the girls were sending his way.

"Need I remind you who stopped watching scary movies for months after a certain dream," Kat poked Adam in the side.   
"I swear it was so real," Adam grumbled.

"Hush,” Kat replied poking him again.

“Yeah, hush Dude,” Dustin echoed before he reached around Tori, snatched up the remote and hit play.

“It can’t be that scary, it’s old. The effects are probably not even that great,” Bridge protested.

Xander poked Bridge in the side, “Hush.”

"What is with all the poking?" Tori laughed softly.

"Hush," Kira reached across Dustin and poked Tori in the side.

"You started a trend," Adam murmured to Kat.

"Guess so," Kat giggled before resting her head on Adam's shoulder as the movie started. "Bridge the movie might be old, but there's a reason it's near the top of the One Hundred Scariest Movies of All Time."

Bridge nodded. Jack had always tried to get them to watch it on their movie night, but Syd had always put her foot down and said no. Once Z had tried to convince her and then it’d been Sky who’d shot down the idea.

“It’s strange to be having a team movie night without a ball of light,” Bridge said referring to Sam. After Jack left they’d stopped having them. He’d never been sure if it was because it’d been something Jack had started or if they were too busy stepping into their new positions as the leading SPD squad.

“A ball of light?” Xander asked with a confused look.

“Sam was…and I probably shouldn’t explain that,” Bridge sighed as he took more popcorn.

"It must be hard for Bridge," Kat murmured to Adam softly, "He always has to be so careful with what he tells us about himself and his team."

Adam nodded, "I know, but at least he's adapting a bit better. He's learned how to use the toaster."

Bridge tilted his head back when he heard his name. It was hard some days, but when it got to him he reminded himself that’d he’d be going home as soon as the mission was over. He’d take a bit of his personal time, Sky couldn’t possibly object, then spend some time with his family and friends.

Xander poked Bridge, not putting up with the melancholy look. Bridge blinked at him and promptly got a soda shoved into his hands.

“Dude, is that the caffeine-free one?” Dustin whispered not wanting to get shushed, but not wanting to see Bridge on a caffeine high again.

Xander snatched the soda from Bridge and smelled it. “Yep,” he confirmed before he handed it back. Bridge looked mournfully down as his now sniffed into drink. He laughed, well smelling it probably hadn’t harmed it, and took a drink.

"Is this the extended version?" Kira asked, changing the subject and reaching for the DVD box. "Oooh it is, that means the creepy spider walk is in the movie," she shivered.

"I hate that part!" Tori said snuggling up closer to Dustin. "It's so gross."

"Shush," Adam called over to them. He chuckled at the twin tongues sticking out at him in response.

Kira snuggled into Dustin as the movie showed the little girl being wheeled into the operating room. "I hate this part. I feel so bad for her, and I hate needles," she winced as the girl was injected with a sedative.

“Me too,” he whispered back as he wrapped his arm around her and gave her a comforting squeeze.

Xander glanced back at them and suppressed a laugh, he gave Tori a smirk. She had to be seeing the same thing he was, but he was almost certain Dustin didn’t have a clue.

Tori shook her head and rolled her eyes as she nodded towards Dustin and Kira, "Clueless," she mouthed to Xander.

Kat watched Dustin and Kira out of the corner of her eye. What was going on with them, she wondered. She nudged Adam and nodded towards the couch, her eyes asking silently if he knew anything about them.

Adam shook his head at Kat's unspoken question. He shrugged his shoulders and then refocused on the movie. "That is so disturbing," he muttered, as the possessed twelve year old screamed obscenities at her mother and the doctors, rubbing herself obscenely.

Xander gave a nod of agreement with Tori almost laughing when he saw Kat notice too.  
He turned back to the movie and jumped slightly when Bridge buried his head into his shoulder with a mutter of, “That’s gross.”

Laughing he shoved Bridge off, “Thought the effects would be too old fashioned for you.”

“You didn’t mention convincing acting,” Bridge winced with a look of disgust.

"Told you there was a reason this movie is still at the top of the list," Kat teased.

They watched in relative silence until the next horrifying scene, Tori gasped, "I didn't remember this part!" She exclaimed covering her eyes. "She did not just shove… up her…"

"She did," Kira mumbled her head buried into Dustin's shoulder.

Kat covered her mouth to stifle her giggles at the way the girls were reacting, though she herself was snuggled up to Adam tightly.

Bridge was too disgusted to respond to Kira’s comment. His eyes widened and his nose scrunched in disgust. Then there were hands covering his eyes. He tilted his head to look at Xander who grinned at him, then poked him.

“It’s just a movie,” Xander told him.

“It’s just wrong,” Dustin winced as he pulled both Kira and Tori closer and peeked at the screen through barely opened eyes.

Adam surveyed the family room, seeing them all wincing and squinting and looked over at Kat, sharing a look between them that said 'kids'.

"They're so cute," Kat whispered into Adams ear, causing him to snicker under his breath. As the girls head began to spin Kat laughed, "This is my favorite part of the movie," she admitted.

Kira looked up, "That is so creepy!"

"For sure," Tori added, watching in awe.

Xander laughed, it just wasn’t that scary to him, but he didn’t protest when Bridge snuggled closer.

“Dude,” Dustin shook his head, “I forgot how creepy that was.”

Adam watched and waited until Kat was relaxed beside him, then poked her in the side, "Wha!"

"Ahhh!" Kat screamed, spooked by the unexpected poke.

"What ?!?" Kira jumped, half into Dustin's lap.

"Eeeee!" Tori let out a very girlie scream.

"You are so cruel Adam Park!" Kat punched him in the arm.

"Owwww!"

"It serves you right!" Kira threw a handful of popcorn at him.

"Yeah!" Tori chimed in with a handful of her own.

Dustin jumped when the girls jumped. He threw Adam a look that clearly stated ‘not cool Dude’ before he snuggled back down between them.

Xander laughed at all the popcorn throwing. He had no intentions of being the one to clean it all up. He tilted his head back to warn them, “Don’t expect me to get refills.”

“But I’m not allowed to get my own,” Bridge protested having been told that while he was allowed to work the toaster by himself that was all, everything else was off limits.

"Nah, we'll make Adam get the refills," Kat said pointedly.

"Sorry," Adam said with a snicker.

"Sure you are," Kat said smacking him upside the head. "Now knock it off and watch the movie."

"I hope Kat stays for awhile," Kira whispered to Dustin and Tori, "She keeps Adam calm. I like her."

Tori nodded, "Me too. Adam's better when she's here, he doesn't freak out so much when she's around to ground him," she murmured.

Dustin silently agreed with them.

As the movie continued and the little girl spewed green puke at the priest Kira gagged, "Oh that is so disgusting," she groaned.

"It's only pea soup and oatmeal," Tori pointed out.

"Doesn't make it less nasty," Kira retorted.

“That’s pea soup and oatmeal?” Bridge questioned, “You mean if I mixed…”

“Don’t even think about trying it,” Xander told him.

Bridge blinked up at him, “I was just asking.”

“Sure and then your asking turns into a disaster for you and Dustin in the kitchen and while it’s amusing to walk into seeing,” Xander nodded his chin towards the screen, “that is not something worth repeating in real life.”

As the movie played on, they fell in relative silence, commentating every so often on a scary part, or explaining to Bridge how an effect was done. They were so engrossed in the movie that they hadn't even heard the knock on the door, or the door opening.

Trent walked into the living room. He'd come to see how his girlfriend was fairing with the new team. He stopped at the entrance of the family room and just stared, he hadn't expected to see his girlfriend draped on some guy. He cleared his throat, causing everyone in the room to startle.

Kira looked up, "Trent," she smiled up at him. "I didn't expect to see you here," she said happily.

"Obviously," he remarked flatly.

Kira immediately tensed up at the inflection in his voice, "What's that supposed to mean?" She asked a bit hotly.

"You tell me," he retorted, glaring at Dustin.

Dustin met Trent’s glare with a confused look. What had he done now? “Ah hi Dude,” he attempted to greet with a small wave.

Kira got up, and grabbed his arm, dragging him out of the family room and out the patio doors.

Tori looked over at the patio, "That is not going to end well," she commented. "What the hell was his problem?"

Adam saw her starting to get up, "Tori it's between her and Trent, let them alone." He ordered softly.

Dustin hugged his knees and leaned into Tori as he whispered, “What’d I do wrong?” If anyone would know it’d be her.

Xander snorted as he heard Dustin’s question. Why did Dustin always assume he was at fault? He moved away from Bridge and grabbed up the remote then turned down the volume on the TV. The voices from the patio could now be heard.

Tori glared at Xander for the snort and then hugged Dustin, "You didn't do anything wrong. Trent is being an asshole," she said hotly.

"Tori…" Adam warned.

"Sorry, but he is," Tori retorted.

As that was going on, the voices on the patio got louder, as Kira's voice rose so did Trent's. "You were hanging on him," Trent yelled.

"It's Dustin, Trent! Dustin cuddles during movies," Kira retorted angrily. "Stop being a dick…"

"Ooh, I'm a dick… when my girlfriend is hanging all over some guy, I'm the dick…"

"Yes! You are! I thought you trusted me…"

"I do!"

"Bullshit," she yelled hotly, "If you trusted me, you wouldn't be here being pissy about me cuddling with Dustin and Tori while watching a movie."

"I do trust you…it’s everyone else I don't trust," Trent retorted.

"If that isn't the lamest…" her voice trailed off as she began to speak in a quiet but furious tone of voice.

Adam had heard enough, "Xander… turn the movie back up, what is going on between Trent and Kira is between Trent and Kira," he ordered. It didn't matter if he wanted to go out there and slap Trent upside the head for being an idiot. He just knew that wasn't going to end well.

Dustin flinched as he heard his name being thrown around. Tori might have said he hadn’t done anything, but obviously Trent didn’t think that. He buried his head against Tori’s shoulder hoping that the fight wouldn’t end too badly.

Xander glanced at Adam. He’d never heard Adam use that tone before and realize that if he didn’t listen well…he turned the volume up one notch and gave Adam a cheeky grin.

Bridge frowned. It wasn’t only their voices that were going to threaten to give him a headache. Deciding he was done with scary movies for awhile Bridge got to his feet, “I think I’ll go see what Alpha decided to watch in the other room.”

"He's watching a marathon of Robot Wars on the tech channel," Kat murmured absentmindedly.

"You are being a complete asshole!" Kira's voice rose up over the T.V.

"I wasn't the one throwing themselves at another guy!"

"You…I…" Kira growled angrily. "If I was interested in Dustin, I would never throw myself at him while I was dating someone else… I'm not that type of woman… but obviously you think differently. So now… it wouldn't matter if I threw myself at him… because I don't have a boyfriend anymore!"

"What?" Trent looked at her in shock.   
"You heard me! Get the hell out of here, and don't bother coming back," she said hotly, pushing him towards the side of the house. "Just get out!"

"Fine!" Trent said hotly and stormed out the backyard around the house to his car.

Kira walked back into the house and didn't say a word to anyone; her face was a mask of rage, and pain. She ran up the stairs to her room and flung herself on her bed, pulling a pillow to her chest and burying her head into it. How could he be such a jerk? It was Dustin, and she wasn't the type to just throw herself at somebody when she was with somebody else.

Dustin’s head shot up. What? They weren’t seriously breaking up were they? They couldn’t…not because of…crap. His eyes widened as Kira rushed through the room. Not even pausing to question he took off after her. He didn’t question that action until he found himself outside her room. He stared at his feet for a moment. How did you apologize to a girl for messing up her and her boyfriend’s happiness? He felt like a complete jerk. He knocked.

“Kira, hey I’m sure once he cools off he’ll realize he’s being stupid,” he tried to reassure.

"It's not locked," she called from inside the room. "And I don't care if he realizes he's being an asshole. It's his fault. I mean… the fact that he would even think I'd do something like throw myself at somebody while I'm with him, I'm not that type of girl," she said hotly. The waver in her voice and the small sniffle after she stopped speaking, gave away that she was on the verge of tears.

Dustin took her in as she talked about not caring, saying the heated words had been Trent’s fault and okay in a way he could admit that they had been, but he also felt partly responsible. If he hadn’t been cuddling with the girls than none of this would’ve happened. “Hey,” he soothed enveloping her in a hug.

Kira buried her head into Dustin's shoulder, letting herself be wrapped up in his hug. He was warm, comfortable and Kira felt herself relax in his arms. "Just know… it's not your fault," she murmured. "You cuddle during movies, we all know that. He knows that… he was just being an ass."

Dustin felt himself finally relax at her reassurance. “He’ll get over it. He’s an idiot if he doesn’t,” he whispered, giving the top of her head a friendly kiss before easing them both down so that they were sitting on her bed. He was less concerned about Trent than her, “Are you going to be okay?”

"He's an idiot whether or not he gets over it," Kira muttered, resettling her head onto his shoulder. "I'll be alright," she said answering his second question. "I'm just so infuriated," she said hotly, her temper still flaring at the thought of the argument. "The fact that he thought I would cheat on him," she huffed.

“You wouldn’t,” Dustin agreed as he carded a comforting hand through her hair, “he knows that, he just forgot for a moment.”

"It doesn't matter if he forgot for a moment, or forever… the fact that he did says everything I need to know," she said firmly, taking a deep breath. "I'm not taking him back Dustin… ever."

Dustin almost protested that, but it was Kira’s decision, Kira’s life. He gave her a squeeze and used his thumbs to brush the tears from her face, “Then I’m sorry it didn’t work out, you two have been trying for awhile.”

"Me too…" she said looking up at him as he brushed away her tears. "But… I should have seen it coming, he's always been the jealous type and I've always had issues with that." For some reason, looking up into Dustin caring eyes, she didn't feel nearly as awful as she had before he came upstairs.

He found himself caught in her gaze. How had he not realize how absolutely beautiful her eyes were before? He blushed and ducked away. He shouldn’t be thinking like that, especially not after she just had a fight with her boyfriend, seemingly ex-boyfriend and about him. He flopped down onto his back, “Do you want to finish watching the movie? They’re probably going to restart it?”

Kira shook her head, "I'd forgotten just how creepy that movie is," she said softly. "Besides… I really don't want to deal with anybody else right now," she added. "You can go back down if you want," she said, though she hadn't loosened her grip on him any. She really didn't want him to go, she didn't want to be alone.

He hadn’t expected her to follow him as he laid back, but somehow they’d remained tangled around each other. He closed his eyes, it was far too comfortable, “No, I’d forgotten too.” He opened his eyes and smiled as he brushed a stray hair out of her face, “I guess team movie night was a bust then. Maybe we should’ve picked something a bit more fluffy.”

"Yeah, I guess so, or at least if we were gonna watch a scary movie, something less scary," she said with a sigh, crinkling up her nose as he brushed the hair away. "Thanks for coming up here Dustin… I appreciate it," she said softly, relaxing as she snuggled into his arms.

Dustin resisted the urge to kiss her nose when she wrinkled it, instead he answered her, “Couldn’t like leave you up here by yourself after what happened.”

Kira smiled, "You're sweet," she said leaning over and kissing his cheek. And he really was, she'd always thought he was a bit of a goof, but getting to know him after he took a hit for her, she'd come to see a different side of him. He was a goof, but he was also a total and complete sweetheart.

“Thanks, you’re pretty,” Dustin whispered, blushing at the compliment, but knowing enough to pay her one back. He snuggled closer as he drowsily tried to keep his eyes opened, but this was so comfortable. “I’m beat,” he murmured. A part of him knew he should get up, leave her to get some sleep, but he couldn’t seem to make himself do so. He wanted to stay, he was too tired and too comfortable to question why.

Kira blushed at the return compliment, she'd never thought of herself as the pretty type. "Thank you," she said softly, ducking her head into his shoulder so he wouldn't see her blush. I wanna kiss him, she thought to herself but quickly pushed that idea aside. Get over Trent first, she scolded herself, Dustin deserves better than being a rebound. Despite her scolding’s, she snuggled up closer to him, "Don't go," she held on tighter to him, and closed her eyes. She was glad she'd changed into her PJ's before the movie started, because she would have slept in her clothes right there.

“Mmm, staying,” Dustin barely managed to respond as he drifted off.

~~~~~*****~~~~~

Xander’s eyes widened as he watched Kira storm through the living room, “I think now I understand all your warnings about yellows.”

Kat watched Dustin tear up the stairs after Kira and sighed, "Trent was being a jerk, I'm not surprised Kira reacted that way."

Adam nodded, "Seriously, ranger boundaries are a hell of a lot more blurred than normal boundaries. Trent should've realized this sooner. He was over-reacting to something stupid."

"Isn't that the truth," Tori growled. She'd like to have a few words with Trent right now.

Adam sighed, "We need to stay out of it though," he warned all of them. "It's between Kira and Trent, understood?"

“And somehow I think Dustin is going to be involved,” Xander added before he shook his head.

"Dustin is going to be involved because he's Dustin… and Kira needs somebody to be there for her," Kat smiled. "I think it'll be alright."   
Tori sighed, "I hope so, we need to be one hundred percent, this personal drama is just going to distract us."

Kat looked over at Adam and raised an eyebrow at Tori being so leader like. "Reminds me of you in our Turbo days," she murmured.

Adam nodded smiling at that, "She's definitely my second in command," he murmured in reply.

Still frowning towards the patio Xander said, “That was a total V type blow out on both their parts.”

"Tommy mentioned something about your pink and how she'd of made a better yellow," Adam said with a laugh.

“I guess V had that attitude, but she was also the one to pull us together when we were falling apart. And Chip’s goofy like Dustin so I guess he fit yellow a bit better than V. Udonna gave us our wands so she’d probably know better than me why we got what we did,” Xander shrugged through his attempt to change the subject.

Kat looked over at Xander, "Why don't you put the movie back to the part when Trent came in, so we can finish watching it in relative peace," she suggested.

“Do you think I should get Bridge?” he asked already missing the good snuggling he’d been getting.

Kat shrugged, "You can go see if he wants to come back," she replied.

Tori looked at the empty spots on the couch, "If he doesn't come back, you can always come up here Xan… I don't mind," she told him. And she really didn't, she knew there were still some scary parts of the movie coming up, and she knew she'd be jumping. She wanted somebody to grab onto, even if it was Xander.

Xander thought about it while moving the movie to the place they had stopped. Without a hint of joking he concluded, “Bridge is probably enjoying Alpha’s choice more than ours anyway. I’ll let him be.” That decided he flopped down on the couch next to Tori and offered her some of his popcorn.

"Not that the chance of snuggles with Tori had nothing to do with that decision," Kat whispered to Adam, causing him to choke off a snicker.

Tori smiled and took some popcorn, "Thank you," she said before looking at the screen and seeing the child doing some weird contortionist walk, "Oh my god that's freaky," she said grabbing his arm.

Xander stared down at his arm. After all the times she’d nearly lopped his head off he’d honestly thought she’d been joking about the snuggling. He grinned a large Cheshire cat grin, obviously he’d made the right choice.

Tori looked at his grin and rolled her eyes. She pinched his arm, "Don't get any ideas," she grumbled and then gasped as the climactic finale began. "Good lord that demon has a foul mouth," she murmured, cringing as the girls body convulsed and her head began to turn again. "So gross," she looked away into the couch and his shoulder.

No ideas, right, he was always full of ideas and she knew it. Xander blinked at the screen, “I think I have to agree with you on that one.”

Tori gasped as the priest finally cast the demon out of the child, taking it into himself, and then threw himself out the window, killing himself to keep the demon from harming the child or anyone else ever again. "Oh my god," she buried her head into his shoulder.

Kat had her body wrapped around Adam's arm, "I love this movie," she murmured.

"You're crazy," Tori called from where she was not looking.

“Oh, I think she’s not. I’m beginning to think I love this movie too,” Xander smiled.

Tori poked Xander, "Shadup," she muttered.

"So Xander, should we watch the sequel?" Kat asked with a laugh, knowing she'd get a reaction out of both Xander and Tori.

"No!" Tori exclaimed turning to give Kat a 'don't even think about it', look.

"I think we should go to bed," Adam said shutting the DVD player and the TV off.

“Normally I’d say oh yeah, but I think I agree with Adam on this one,” Xander responded as he tried to suppress a yawn.

"Smart man," Tori said getting up off the couch. "G'nite folks," she said heading up the stairs.

"G'nite Tori," Kat replied with a smile as she gathered up the dishes of popcorn. "I'm gonna clean these up before I hit the sack," she told Adam as she headed into the kitchen.

Adam watched her head into the kitchen and turned to Xander, "See you when the suns up," he said with a laugh, before heading for the stairs himself.

Xander nodded and watched for a moment as Kat began to clean up before he moved to help her. He shook his head, “Dustin just starts to automatically pick up after us, when it involves food, I almost starting to think I’m taking it for granted. Do you think he’s alright?”

Kat nodded, "We can't take him for granted, it wouldn't be fair to him." She began to run water in the sink as she answered his question, "I think he's fine, Kira will make sure he knows it wasn't his fault. And I think he'll believe her," she said rinsing out the bowls. "He's a good bloke," she commented.

Xander nodded his agreement as he began to dry and put away, “As long as he isn’t blaming himself, he does that too often.”

"I've noticed," Kat said with a sigh, "But I don't think Kira will let him in this instance, because it's not his fault at all… it's all on Trent, and the fact he obviously doesn't trust Kira… Adam was right about the boundary lines, they are definitely blurred when it comes to rangers. It’s friendship and a bond that goes beyond conventional standards. Trent should know that… any ranger couple should."

Xander thought about how close he’d seen Chip and V be, more than friends, but never really crossing that line though he thought they were idiots not to. He remembered how Maddy had instantly connected with Nick, even before they got their morphers. Was it fate? And his own reactions to his teammates, he might flirt, but when it came to another ranger he was never serious about the follow through. Other people were for dating, his teammates were too precious to let something as stupid as a night of passion get in the way of saving the world. “Do other rangers tend to do that, date other rangers?” he asked curiously, “I mean Maddy and Nick were a given from day one and some days I swear V and Chip need to realize what’s in front of them, but for me it’s always been teammates are teammates and yeah you flirt with them but woman or men not part of the team are for dating. Maybe I’m just wired differently.” He shrugged then frowned, he hated being different, it made him feel insecure and he hated insecurity. Maybe he’d call Briarwood tomorrow, get a much needed V styled pep talk.

"I don't think you're wired differently Xander," Kat said with a smile. "Let me explain this… because there's two sides to the, do rangers date other rangers thing," she said turning around to lean back against the sink. "For us older rangers… it's easier to date inside the group, we spent all of high school fighting monsters, that was a big chunk of our lives. A part of our lives we can't talk about to anyone else but each other… we dated in the group because it was easier for us to be free with our thoughts. So the older rangers, we tend to date inside the team. Trini married Billy, but I know she went on a few dates with Jason and Zack back when they were doing the peace conference. Tommy dated Kimberly through high school, and he and I dated for the summer after high school. Tanya and Adam dated while in high school, then she went on a few dates with Zack as well… well, let's just say most of us girls have gone on dates with Zack," she laughed softly. "But I digress, you… you and your team served for what? A year… maybe a little bit more. You had a life outside of rangering before, and you'll have one after. I don't think, well with the exception of Nick and Maddy, and Kira and Trent, none of the ranger teams since Wild Force have had significant couplings in the group." She shook her head at herself, "I gave a speech didn't I?" She sighed, "Anyway… the point was, there is nothing wrong with valuing the bond of friendship with your teammates enough to not want to risk altering it by adding a romantic element to it."

Xander nodded then smiled, “No, not a speech, an explanation and I see where you’re coming from. I guess I should’ve already understood that. Nick turned out to be Udonna’s long lost son, after she’d already taken us in as if we were her children. Daggeron was stuck in a frog form before Maddie gave him a kiss that released him. You don’t get those kinds of things in everyday life so we’re bound to be a bit closer for it.”

Kat nodded, "Exactly. So like I said, you're not wired differently, you appreciate what you have," she said with a grin. "Now, you should probably head to bed, I think Adam has a training session planned for tomorrow morning."

“Training session?” Xander grumbled before he yawned, “Good idea.” Adam couldn’t be any harder on him than Daggeron was could he? Well Daggeron had had good reason to be so if Adam was than Xander realized that it would only be to make him a better fighter, a better teammate.

"So I'll see you bright and early tomorrow morning," Kat laughed. She pushed away from the sink and headed to the kitchen door. "G'nite mate," she said heading out to the stairs.

“G’nite,” he echoed heading for his own room.

Kat stopped at Kira's door and poked her head in to check on her young friend. She smiled seeing Dustin and Kira wrapped up around each other. She was glad someone had gone to be there for the heartbroken girl.


	8. Chapter 8

Dustin woke up slowly, first noticing that he wasn’t under the covers and then realizing that he was being snuggled. He blinked, took in the yellow and realized he’d let himself fall asleep in Kira’s room, with Kira wrapped around him. It’d been one thing to cuddle with her during a movie, but this was probably crossing a line, even if she did no longer have a boyfriend.

He wet his lips, waiting for the guilt to kick in and was surprised when it didn’t. He’d been comforting her. Trent had been a jerk and it wasn’t his fault that they’d both been exhausted and fallen asleep, had it?

He looked down at her. Her curls were illuminated by the sun just starting to peek through the window. She looked so serene with her arms wrapped around him tightly. He even liked the way his arms looked wrapped around her.

He closed his eyes, now was not the right time to be developing feelings for his friend, his teammate. She’d just broken up with her boyfriend last night, you didn’t go liking someone right after that!

He needed a morning run to clear his thoughts, to figure out what in the world he thought he was doing. She shifted, and tightened her grip on him. He suddenly remembered how grouchy she was in the morning and Kat saying something about Adam getting smacked for waking up another yellow too early.

He wasn’t about to risk getting smacked, he reasoned. Besides he was very comfortable here, with Kira wrapped around him. That decided he leaned down awkwardly and gave the top of her head a quick kiss, before he settled back and let himself sleep in for the first time in a long time.

A few hours later, Kira finally gave into the sun glaring down into her room. She grumbled as she turned over and…whoa, there's a body there, her sleep-addled mind informed her. She opened her eyes tentatively and smiled as she saw Dustin curled up against her.

She licked her lips and took a few moments to study him. He looked so calm in his sleep, a far cry from his bouncy personality. She propped herself up on her elbow and watched him sleep.

"Thanks for staying," she whispered softly, not wanting to wake him up, not even sure she wanted him to hear that.

Movement woke Dustin up. He groaned and opened his eyes, tense because he wasn’t used to waking up next to someone and wasn’t sure it wasn’t an attack. He blinked up at Kira, a bit stunned at how beautiful she looked with the sun illuminating her.

“Morning,” he greeted, voice thick with sleep.

"Closer to afternoon actually," she said with a smile. The clock on the wall read eleven thirty. "But good morning all the same," she replied, running a hand through her hair and making a face. "A tangled mess," she sighed. She took a moment to look over Dustin again, now that he was awake. Just woke up was a good look for him, she decided after a moment.

“S’pretty,” he mumbled sleepily as he closed his eyes. He didn’t want to move. He felt awful. He knew it was because he’d missed his morning run, he always felt miserable when he did, but there was nothing he could do about it. Wait, did she say it was almost noon?

Did he just say she was pretty? Kira fought the urge to say ‘What?’ That would make it the second time in less than twenty-four hours he'd complemented her like that. She felt her cheeks heat up at the idea that he found her attractive.

Dustin’s eyes flew open, “Dude, did we miss training?”

Kira was jolted out of her thoughts by Dustin's question. "Holy crap… we totally missed training," she said sitting up all the way. "Adam's gonna kill us," she groaned. How had they missed training, she thought wildly. Why hadn't anyone come to wake them up?

He should get up, he should be panicking and running down the stairs, but he felt like he was weighed down. He ran a hand over his face and struggled to keep his eyes opened. “Would’ve woken us like up if they were gonna be pissed,” he slurred before snuggling into her comforter, “Don’t wanna move, can’t we just go back to sleep?”

"No! It's almost noon. Even if they aren't pissed, if you don't wake up now, you'll be up all night," Kira said shaking him gently. Yes, she wanted to cuddle with him more, but they did need to get up. When she got no response she sighed, "Don't make me dump your sweet butt outta bed Dustin." She shook him again.

Sweet butt…had she just said that? “Huh? Wha?” he blinked at her, “Okay.” He rolled out of bed, forcing himself to stand and shook himself. Oh dude, he hated sleeping in. “Do you want breakfast? We should go get breakfast. Or would it be lunch?” he asked before he yawned and stretched.

"Brunch maybe?" Kira stood up, locked her arms behind her back and bent forward as she stretched herself awake fully. "I need to take a shower first though, and tackle this mess," she said tugging at her hair. A shower would also give her time to process everything running through her head.

Dustin blinked as Kira stretched. What was with him and wanting to check out girls lately? “Brunch sounds good. I think I’ll like go downstairs and get food. I’ll take a shower after the training Adam’s sure to um make us do,” he nodded, then hesitated. He stepped towards her and pulled her into a quick hug and told her, “I hope you’re okay.”

He didn’t wait for her to reply, he was too embarrassed by trying not to check her out earlier. Dude, what was with him?

Kira bit her lip and smiled as Dustin darted from her room after that hug. He was so sweet. She sighed contently from the warm feeling his hug had left her with and headed to her closet to pick out clothes for the day.

Dustin padded down the stairs and into the kitchen. He stared at it a moment before he gave up and flopped down at the breakfast bar. He buried his head in his arms, he had no energy.

Adam came into the kitchen to see an interesting sight, Dustin flopped over the breakfast bar. "Bout time you woke up," he commented as he grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge.

Dustin slowly brought his head up to blink at Adam. Dustin groaned, Adam looked entirely too cheerful. “Dude, sleeping in sucks,” he complained before he rested his chin on his arms, “I should go running. I’d feel better if I went running, but I like so don’t have the energy.”

"You gotta do something to get motivated," Adam pointed out.

Tori walked in. "Dustin's a downer when he doesn't get in his morning run. It's like he needs endorphins to function properly," she informed Adam.

"I can see where getting out of your routine would make you feel awful," Adam reasoned as he took a seat at the table. He reached a foot out to the stool Dustin was perched on and kicked it, "You… go do something. Move."

Dustin’s response was to groan and bury his head into his arms. He knew Adam was right, but moving required well moving. He tilted his head to the side, still pillowed on his arms and told him, “Can’t move, heads too full.” He closed his eyes hoping his confusion about these sudden feelings towards Kira would go away. They wouldn’t, he knew, not until he’d sorted himself out and got in his daily run. No, he wasn’t going to move, it felt too good to stay here with his eyes closed. “Tor,” he groaned, “I don’t understand.”

"Don't understand what?" She asked, walking behind him and rubbing his shoulders. “You gotta move Dustin. Come on, let’s go for a run. You can explain to me what you don't understand while moving," she said poking him in the sides until he got up.

Adam smiled at the way she took charge of Dustin and headed back outside to see how Kat was doing with Xander.

Lethargic Dustin stumbled to his feet. He swayed there for a moment doing his best to give Tori a pout. He shook himself, he could move. He could go for a run if he went and got his shoes which were…where were his shoes? He groaned. If he went to his room to get his shoes he wasn’t sure that he wouldn’t crawl into bed. He wrapped his arms around Tori and buried his face in her shoulder, “Do I have to do the moving first? Can’t you do the explaining first?”

Tori sighed and poked him in the side. "Stay standing. Don't move. I'll go get your shoes," she trotted towards the stairs.

He turned and considered the chair again, how nice it would be to just sit down.

"And Dustin," she leaned her head over the railing, "If you sit back down before I come back… I will use a wave to push you right out the patio doors."

Dustin blinked at her for a moment before nodding his understanding. He’d almost finished stretching before she came back with his shoes. He finished, mumbled a ‘thank you’ and took his shoes.

"Now put them on, no explaining until we're outside," she ordered. She wasn't going to put up with a lethargic Dustin. The easiest way to get him back to normal was to poke and prod him until he was up and moving. Dustin padded outside and winced at the brightness. “T,” he complained before he sighed. He knew she was right, but in a last ditch effort to flop to the ground he pointed out, “We’re outside.”

"I've got a tidal wave with your name on it Waldo," Tori threatened, raising an eyebrow, a sure sign she was at her limit of listening to Dustin’s whining. "Run, now," she pushed him towards the sidewalk, "Then tell me what you don't understand."

He nodded, gave her a quick brotherly peck on the cheek and began to run. This was better, he was better when he was moving. “Thanks T,” he smiled as he felt himself begin to get back to normal.

"Anytime," she said running next to him. After they’d run about a mile from the house she ventured, “So, what exactly don’t you understand?”

“Um, girls are pretty?” he tried, as his pace picked up, a sure sign that he was agitated or confused about something, “I mean I like know that you’re pretty. And hey I know Kat’s pretty. And I knew that Kira was pretty, but, dude, why am I noticing now that she is pretty? I like shouldn’t be noticing. She’s my teammate and she…she like has a boyfriend.” He sighed. What was wrong with him?

Tori picked up her speed to keep up with him, "Dustin, what part of that massive blow out did you miss last night? Kira doesn't have a boyfriend anymore. I don't think she'll take Trent back, it's not the first time Trent's pulled the jealousy bit, and I think the fact he did it on a fellow ranger and insinuated that she would cheat put her over the edge."

“Yeah, she said she wasn’t going to,” he agreed.

"As for the first part," she continued, "You're now noticing that she's 'pretty' because she's moved from the unavailable to the available, when it comes to girls.”

Okay, that like made sense, Dustin thought.

“And maybe because she's noticed that you're not exactly unattractive yourself," she added slyly, subtly hinting that Kira had been checking him out as well.

He almost stopped at that. “T,” he laughed, “Cute, maybe. Airheaded, yes. Attractive? I’m like not so sure about that one.” He paused and pointed out, “Come on, the last two people I dated only wanted to date me after they’d eaten food I cooked.”

"Yeah and the last two people you've dated were total and complete jerks," she pointed out in response. "You are cute… and maybe a bit airheaded, but you're also attractive, don't argue me on that one," she added to cut off any more protests.

“Okay, okay. Dude I like so know better than to argue with you,” he told her before he teased, “Especially when you start sounding like Marah.”

Tori looked over at him in disbelief. "You did not just say that. I didn’t sound like Marah," she said bumping into him as they ran. She didn't, really. The upside was Dustin was sounding like Dustin again. She thought about that, rather than thinking about whether what Dustin said was true or not.

Dustin laughed, “Well okay, not the sounding the same, but dude she’s so said the same thing to me, but then she was doing her ‘I used to be evil’ bit and threatening to kick the ass of the next person I dated if they were as lame as the like the last person I dated. It was kinda like scary.”

"Marah in protective mode is kinda scary," Tori admitted. "But that isn't the point. The point was Kira noticing you're attractive," she reminded him. She looked up at the sky and estimated that they'd been running for nearly an hour.

"We should probably head back," she commented.

“Okay,” Dustin agreed as he slowed, preparing to start cooling down. Then he processed the rest of her words, “Wait, what? She…when did…dude.”

Tori laughed. "What? She did, and that's all I'm going to say about the subject," she slowed down to a light jog as they headed back towards the house.

After getting back to the house, Dustin took a shower and in a much better mood bounced down the stairs. He froze when he entered the kitchen and took in the tension radiating off everyone. He rubbed the back of his head, “Ahh, dude, what’d I miss?”

Kat looked up from her post behind Adam's chair, where she was rubbing his shoulders. "Well…"

"Next time I see Trent… I have a few things I'd like to say to him," Adam interrupted hotly. He was fuming. "He couldn't leave things alone… he had to call Kira today, and rub salt in the wounds…. he…"

"Hush," Kat squeezed his shoulders, then explained, "Trent called Kira, I don't know exactly what he said to her, but she was furious with him. She didn't even bother hanging up. She launched her phone at the wall and stormed out of the house. Only Adam's reflexes kept it from shattering against the wall."

"How can he be such an idiot?" Tori sighed. Yes, Trent had some jealousy issues, but he was a good guy, she didn't understand why he was being such a prick.

Dustin shook his head, hardly believing things had gotten worse. Yes, Kira had broken up with Trent and she had said she wasn’t getting back together with him, but Dustin figured Trent would’ve realized he’d been wrong in pissing her off and things would work out for them. He hadn’t thought Trent would just make the situation worse.

Dustin dropped down into the nearest chair, “Dude.” He wanted to ask if they thought Kira’d be okay, but he knew she would be. She was tough. With that thought he pushed himself out of his chair, started some tea and began to fix himself lunch. “Okay, so like I know like none of you are thinking about food right now, but if I don’t eat then well I’ll throw my whole day off more than well I already did. So anyone want some like food?” He wasn’t thinking about wanting to have a few words with Trent, he really wasn’t, he tried telling himself. He hoped Kira got back soon.

"I do. I haven't eaten since before training," Tori said as she took the seat Dustin vacated.   
"So do we know where Kira went?" She asked Kat and Adam. She was a little worried about Kira going off on her own. Kira being alone while they were waiting for their first battle left her with an uneasy feeling.

"No, she didn't say anything to us, just stormed out of here, looking ready to kill," Kat replied as she took a seat next to Adam. "I'd think she probably went for a walk to cool off."

Dustin began on a sandwich for Tori before he frowned, “I hope she comes back soon. The not knowing how she is like the worst part.” He pulled out a bag of chips, putting it and the sandwiches on the table before he busied himself with making tea for everyone. “I hope she’s okay.”

"I'm sure she is," Kat walked over to where Dustin was making tea and got out the tea mugs. "She can handle herself," she patted his shoulder. Dustin gave her a grateful smile.

A short time later, Kira opened the front door and dragged herself towards the kitchen. She had leaves in her hair, scratches on her arms, and bruises dappled her legs.

"Adam, Billy really needs to get us communicators," she said collapsing into the free chair.

"Kira what happened?" Adam exclaimed, as he got up and knelt down in front of her chair to check her injuries.

"A squad of foot soldiers found me in the park," she said folding her arms on the table and using them to pillow her head. "I fended them off the best I could," she mumbled through her hands.

"I knew something was going to happen," Tori got up and grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge, handing it to Kira. "Here…" she said rubbing her back.

Dustin froze at the sight of the wreck Kira was. He couldn’t move for a moment. After the horrible day she’d already had to be attacked by putties? Dude, that was just so wrong. Dustin placed his own mug of tea in front of her, and pushed his sandwich towards her. Then he took a step back, feeling useless and not knowing how to help further. He wanted to hug her. He wanted those putties to show up so he could take them on for messing with her, even though he was sure several of them were merely clay thanks to her hands. Finally he managed words, “Dude. Are you like okay?”

Kira lifted her head up from her hands just enough to meet his eyes. She looked about ready to cry, “No." That being said, she buried her face back into her arms. She hurt everywhere. She knew that she'd been lucky, that the baddies had just been toying with her. If they'd been serious about taking her out, she probably wouldn't have stood a chance unless she morphed, and they'd rushed her so quickly she hadn't had the time to even touch her morpher.

Adam stood up after checking her injuries, "Her bumps and bruises aren't serious, she got worked over, but it’s all minor. She'll be okay." Adam put a hand on her back as he added softly, "You need to get cleaned up."

"Don't want to move," came the muffled reply from Kira.

She sounded so broken it scared Dustin. So he did what Tori had done for him, he reached out to motivate her. He helped her to her feet and pulled her into a careful hug.

He gave her a smile, “I’m like sure you did good, fighting them cause hey you’re here and like yeah a little worse for wear but you’re here. So let’s like go get you cleaned up. I’ll walk you upstairs. I’ll even wait for you to get back out of the shower. Then we’ll like get some food in you.”

He gave her his best encouraging look. She needed to get cleaned up, she needed her scratches tended too and she probably hadn’t eaten yet. Adam had said her injuries were minor, but just in case she passed out he’d wait near the bathroom door for her. Not sure if she’d agree he asked, “Okay?”

"Fine," Kira hugged him back tightly, too tired to even respond to his encouragements about her fighting prowess. She pulled away and headed for the stairs carefully. Every inch of her body ached with fatigue. She gripped the rail tightly as she walked up the stairs, fearful that she would either lose her grip, or her shaky legs would give out on her.

Worried Adam watched Dustin follow her up the stairs. "I'm going to call Billy, see if maybe he and Bridge can get the communicators working ASAP. We need them, and we need them now," he got up and headed for the living room, where he'd left his cell phone.

Kat looked at Tori, "Well I'm going to clean up, why don't you go let Xander know what happened."

Tori nodded, "He outside in the garden?"

At Kat's affirmation she headed for the patio doors.

~~~~~*****~~~~~

After a fairly lengthy shower, Kira opened the bathroom door to find that true to his word, Dustin was sitting in the hallway across from the door.

"Ooh… I didn't expect you to actually be right there," the surprise was evident in her voice. She pulled her robe shut a little closer, and tied it tighter.

Now that she had the grime and dirt cleared off her, it was more than obvious that she was worse for wear. The small scratches that were hidden by the dirt were now a bright and angry red, and the larger gashes were surrounded by purple bruising that looked all too painful.

Dustin felt his face flush as he caught sight of her. He ducked his head, “Just in case you fainted, have to be careful.” He looked back up at her, cheeks still red, “Why don’t you like get dressed and I’ll go get the first aid kit and then we’ll look you over?” That said he rose to his feet and walked away. He ran a hand though his hair trying not to think about how she’d looked stepping out of the bathroom. Resolutely he set about getting the first aid kit.

"Right," she said biting her lip. She saw Dustin's reaction to her 'outfit' and had to suppress a smile. The urge quickly faded a she moved and pain ripped through her legs. "Meet me in my room," she said as he headed to look for the first aid kit. Once in her room, she'd changed into a pair of shorts, and a tank top, making sure that most of her injuries were visible to be treated. She laid back on the bed and tried to relax as she waited for Dustin to come in with the first aid kit.

Dustin paused in the doorway, giving in to the urge to look her over for only a moment as he tried to tell himself it was so he could access her injuries. He sat down carefully beside her and began to clean her up. He gave her a smile, “You wouldn’t believe the number of times I ended up with a concussion and Sensei wouldn’t let one of the other guys let me out of their sight.”

Kira laughed softly. "Sensei's smart. Conner wound up with one after a harsh battle; we had to keep him awake… a task easier said than done, oww!" she yelped when Dustin cleaned a rather nasty scratch on her leg, her leg jerking involuntarily. "That hurt."

Dustin winced when he hurt Kira. He hadn't meant to hurt her, "Sorry, dude, sorry.”

“Don't call me dude," Kira teased, to let him know it was cool, that she knew he didn't mean to hurt her.

"Dude, I like call everyone dude."

More carefully he finished the scratch on her leg and moved onto the next. In an attempt to distracted her he asked, "So like what'd you guys do to keep Conner awake?"

She pushed herself up on her elbows before continuing, "Ethan kept poking him, and when that didn't work, I dumped ice down the front of his pants." She had a satisfied smile on her face. "Conner screams like a girl," she informed him.

Dustin shuddered at the thought, "Down his pants? I'd scream like a girl too."

Kira giggled, "Hey, it worked. He stayed up all night." She watched him tending to the rest of her injuries. I really want to kiss him; she thought to herself and groaned, laying her head back against the bed. I can't do that, besides… what if he wasn't interested? She was so caught up in her introspection, she didn't even notice she'd groaned aloud.

Dustin froze when she groaned. Had he hurt her? He didn’t think so, that didn’t sound like a painful groan. He wet his lips. He’d been wrong earlier when he’d told Tori she was pretty. Kira was more than pretty, she was beautiful. And she’d only just broken up with Trent, he shouldn’t be thinking this way. He sat back and began putting the supplies away. Still concerned he asked, “Are you okay?”

"What?" She asked pushing herself back up. It was then she realized she must have groaned aloud. "Oooh, I'm fine," she smiled at him as she finished sitting up all the way, "I was just thinking about things. I should probably be more upset about the fact I'm not with Trent anymore…I mean… I should be heartbroken… but I'm not. I was… a little bit last night, but right now, I'm more hurt that he'd think of me that way, not what I lost.” She paused for a moment then asked him, “Is that weird?"

They were sitting so close their legs were pressed against each other. It took Dustin a moment to process what she said and without thinking he said, “Maybe it wasn’t a good relationship.”

Dustin froze. He probably shouldn’t have said that. “Dude, I’m sorry. I like have no right to like say anything about your relationships I was just like um well when I got out of some relationships I realized that they weren’t really like good ones when I wasn’t very like upset afterward. I…well the last person I dated was a relief to get rid of. I think Marah wanted to kill her, and Tori and Shane. I’m holding out on the hope that Cam didn’t have an opinion,” he paused to give her a smile hoping that he’d repaired any damage he might have done, that he might have taken back the insult of saying she wasn’t in a good relationship.

Kira bumped his arm and smiled back at him, "It's okay Dustin. You're probably right. I was in New York… he was out here in California, maybe we just drifted apart. It still doesn't excuse how he acted," she added with a huff. She was still upset about that. "I should sic Hayley on him," she smirked at the thought of Hayley's temper, and the image she had of her blowing up at Trent.

“Oh dude, he’d be in so much like trouble not that he already isn’t in trouble but dude…she’d like…I don’t even think she’d leave any of him for Dr. O to be mad at.”

"Good, because we always said that if we broke up, we were still gonna be friends, and right now… I don't want to be friends with him, not till he apologizes for being a jackass," she said crossing her arms.

“Hey,” he attempted to sooth as he wrapped his arms around her, “just no going off while you’re angry, because we don’t need the bad guys taking advantage of that again.”

Kira let herself be hugged and leaned into his embrace, "That was kinda stupid wasn't it?" She sighed. "I just needed to get out of the house, I didn't want to snap at anybody, and I would have… and it probably would have been you, and you so don't deserve that because you've been nothing but a complete and total sweetheart," she said looking up at him.

Dustin laughed, “You like keep saying that. I’m the airhead, remember?”

"What? Just cause you're an 'airhead' you can't be a sweetheart?" Kira asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, um maybe? Nah, no, like not sure dude?” he teased with a smile.

Kira poked him, "Don't argue, you're a sweetheart, end of discussion."

“Okay. You like Tori and Cam always win,” he smiled, “I’m just hapless against your logic.” That said he tucked a wayward strand of hair behind her ear.

"Damn straight," she bit her lip and looked down, not wanting Dustin to see her cheeks flushing slightly. He keeps this up, I am going to kiss him, she thought to herself.

Her eyes had met him for a brief moment before she looked down. It was then he realized how close they were sitting, that…that…his brain was about to completely shut off and if he didn’t get up right now he’d probably do something stupid like kiss her. “Dude,” he managed before he forced himself to step away and tell her, “Maybe we should try and get some food. Have you even like eaten anything yet? Cause I like so haven’t.”

Kira sighed internally. So close, she mourned before shaking that thought away. "I haven't eaten yet either, I am kinda hungry," she admitted as she stood up. "Let's go grab some food," she said heading for her door.

“I’ll just put this way first,” he said indicating the First Aid Kit.

"I'll meet you downstairs," she said heading out of the room and bouncing down the stairs. Working her legs was less painful that taking it slow.

~~~~~*****~~~~~

After Kira and Dustin headed upstairs, Adam grabbed his phone and dialed Billy's number. "Come on… pick up…pick up… pick up," he muttered pacing in the living room.

Trini sighed when Billy's cell phone went off, he was down in the lab with Bridge. "Why does he never remember his phone," she muttered. She grabbed it, "Hello?"

"Trini, it's Adam, I need to talk to Billy, now."

"Lemme take the phone downstairs." She quickly headed down the stairs, Adam sounded troubled, and that usually meant something bad had happened. "Billy!" She rapped on the door of the lab, "Adam's on the phone, it's important!"

"It's unlocked!" Billy called not looking up from where he and Bridge were going over the Zords. He pushed his pencil at Bridge, "Why don't you work on the calculations and I'll answer the phone."

He met Trini and gave her a kiss on the cheek before he gave her a bemused look, "Scatterbrained though I may be lately, at least I remembered my lap top this time."

He thanked her for her assistance and took the phone, "Salutations, just the person I was considering calling. I'd figured out how to combine what will be Kira's Zord to Xander’s, however I hit a snag when it came to yours. Thankfully a certain leader, who will go unnamed at the moment, already had someone of tech quality on their team and Bridge had an idea which might prove invaluable."

"Like I could figure out Bridge was a tech genius through all the Bridge-babble," Adam retorted. "That's not the point. How are you on communicators for all of us? We need them…now," he said urgently, his thoughts still on Kira, and getting attacked alone in the park. That shouldn't have happened, he should have at least made her take her phone, that way at least she could have called them. "Kira went out for a walk and got attacked by those wanna be Putties," Adam's voice was tight with a multitude of emotions. "She pretty much got her ass handed to her before they took off." He stared out the front window contemplatively before continuing, "If she'd had a communicator, she could have called for help."

Billy sat down, "Is she okay?"

"Yeah, no serious injuries," Adam sighed. "Dustin is upstairs taking care of her. It's mostly bumps, bruises and scratches. I think they were sent to toy with her," he added thoughtfully. "But either way, we need to get those communicators working."

“Still shouldn’t have happened,” Billy acknowledged before he noticed Bridge hovering.  
“Hang on,” he told Adam before he sat Bridge down and explained the situation to him.

“Several of the morphers already have communication devices in them,” Bridge pointed out.

“Unfortunately none of them are connected to each other and if for some reason one of you weren’t able to access your morpher…” Billy pointed out.

“Or if they were broken,” Bridge cut in with a shudder, then continued, “Therefore we should make a separate communication device that allows all of us access to each other.”

“Precisely,” Billy agreed before he settled the phone back against his ear, “Adam, what are your feelings regarding my replicating our old communicators for your team?”

"I love our old communicators, we all do, most of us still wear ours," Adam pointed out to his friend. "Is that what you're planning? Make a set of communicators like the originals?"

“It would seem the most obvious thing to do, no need to mess with a design that’s proven it works,” Billy nodded, “I’ll have Bridge finish the zord calculations while I begin working on your communication devices. I’d also appreciated it if you sent Alpha over again to help. Also how many do we need? Obviously enough for each member of your team, one for myself in case there are problems with the zords that need a quick readjustment and then also Kat. Anyone else at this point?”

Adam thought about that for a moment, since Billy had already mentioned himself, "Trini will be heartbroken if you don't make her one too, plus she'll do in a pinch of you're unavailable. You might want to make one for Cam too, since he created half the Zords, and Hayley too, as back up," he finally decided. "I think that will cover everybody and I’ll let Alpha know you’d like his help again.”

“Thank you. Trini wouldn’t have been please with me. If I’m making Hayley one then Tommy has to get one because if I give his wife one and not him I’ll never hear the end of it. And if I’m giving Tommy one I might as well give Jason one too because you never know he might be nearby if those putties attack and he’d be able to help with that. I’d hate to give Tommy who’s not even in town one and not give Jason one. Aisha’s in Stone Canyon I don’t think she can think up an excuse to be angry with me if I don’t make her one, but if she requests one I will. Wait, that’s quite a few…your team comes first and then everyone else.”

"Billy… Stone Canyon is not even five minutes from downtown Angel Grove," Adam reminded. "I think if you are making Jase and Tommy one, you'd better make Aisha one too, she's worse than Trini when it comes to the wrath of yellows."

“Aisha’s yellow…Z’s yellow and Z would not be happy,” Bridge pointed out from where he was working.

“Considering I just had you and Bridge point out the same thing. Aisha gets one too…anyone else…want me to give one to Rocky?” Billy ended in an attempt to tease.

"Well, now that you mention it," Adam joked. He then stopped to actually think about that. "Ya know… when Rocky, and Tanya and Justin and Kimberly find out that you made everybody else communicators, they are gonna feel left out," he said with all seriousness. "I think you may have to bite the bullet and just make each of us one. In waves of course," he added, "considering our team actually needs them."

“Your team comes first, then Kat, then the techs, then everyone involved with the techs then everyone else. I’m gonna consider Trini a tech because she’s my wife and I said so.”

Adam laughed, "No arguments there man, besides Trini's on par with you guys, so she's definitely considered a tech."

"Exactly."

"Well, I'm going to let you go so you can get back to work, don't let Bridge forget to be home for dinner, we're going to attempt a team dinner tonight," Adam replied, heading for the kitchen. "I will talk to you later man."

“I’ll set a timer or I’ll forget. I’ll see what we can come up with by his curfew,” Billy laughed, “Bye Adam.”

"Later Billy," Adam said before hanging up. "That's taken care of," he said to Kat, who was relaxing at the kitchen table.

"I'm getting a communicator right?" She asked raising an eyebrow.

"Of course you are, like you have to ask," Adam retorted.

"Good," she smiled. "Now sit down and relax."

"Relax… what's that?"

"Let me show you," she said getting up and shoving him into a seat.

"Oooh… this is what it is?" he joked.

"Exactly," she said smacking him lightly upside the head.


	9. Chapter 9

Tori headed out the patio doors and looked around for Xander. He wasn't hard to find, he was sitting in front of an empty patch of yard that they'd decided to put a garden in. As Tori walked up she stopped, her mouth open in surprise, flowers were growing to full size right out of the ground. It was like nature in fast forward. "Wow," she murmured in awe.

Xander turned when he heard Tori's appreciation, "I think I got a little carried away."

"It's beautiful to watch," Tori told him, before remembering what she came out here for. "Kira got attacked by those Putty things," she said soberly. "She's alright, but she got worked over pretty bad."

The smile that had started to form on his face at Tori’s appreciation faltered and fell. Xander rose. He couldn’t help but think there was more to the story than that. Curious he asked, “What happened?”

Tori sighed, and started to explain what Adam had explained to her, the phone argument with Trent, the throwing of said phone at the wall and the departure of Kira. "So…she came back and was all battered and bruised. Dustin's cleaning her up, and Adam went to call Billy to see if he can get communicators for us. I mean Dustin and I are connected through our morphers, but no one else is," she pointed out.

“Communicators sound like a plan,” Xander nodded as he brushed the dirt off himself, “And I know you’re probably only thinking about having a go at him, but has anyone called Trent? They might have broken up, but it’s hasn’t even been a day. He deserves to know what his idiocy caused.” Xander frowned, out of all of them he was probably the one that should be calling Trent. Everyone else was probably ready to read him the riot act.

"Sensei always said never act with a hot head, so yeah, I shouldn't be doing that, I'd like to ninja streak to Reefside and give Trent a piece of my mind, which will only make things worse." Tori replied, attempting to keep her formidable temper in check.

“Only good thing about his idiocy is he’s pushed Dustin and Kira closer,” Xander decided. Not that he had anything against Trent, besides the upsetting of a teammate, but Xander liked watching the prettiness of a new relationship about to bloom. He’d never admit it, but it was always interesting to see.

"Ten bucks says those two hook up before the first monster battle," Tori said kneeling down to look at a rose. "They're both attracted to each other; their body language is screaming 'I want you'. I've seen the way Kira was looking at him during training sessions."

“I’m not about to make a bet I’d lose,” Xander smiled.

"But since you mentioned it, you call Trent. I have his number. Maybe you can get it out of him why he's acting like a complete ass," she smirked as she grabbed her phone.

Xander nodded and took the phone. When Trent picked up Xander tried to keep the smile in his tone, “Hi, names Xander, this is Trent right?” It wouldn’t be good if he was talking to the wrong person.

"Yes, this is Trent. Xander? You're the Mystic Force Ranger on the vets team, right?" Trent asked a little warily. Why was this dude calling him?

Xander flopped down on the grass, he could already tell this was going to take awhile by the tone in Trent’s voice, “That would be me. Look, mate, how bout you sit down for a moment.”

"How bout you just tell me why you’re calling me?" Trent retorted, he had an inkling of how this was going to go, and it put him on the defensive immediately.

Xander rolled his eyes before he stated simply, “Kira was hurt. She was angry earlier today and went out on her own. She got attacked.”

Trent was silent for a long moment, a myriad of thoughts running through his head. Was she hurt badly? Is she okay? Should I go back out there? Then the cold hard facts kicked in, she’d broken up with him. Why should he care? Hotheadedness won out and he snapped, "Why should I care?"

Because she's still your friend, a small voice in the back of Trent’s mind quipped, but he pushed it aside. He was still angry, though he wasn't sure if it was at himself or at Kira.

“You care,” Xander told him, “You guys haven’t even been broken up for a whole day and if you two didn’t care than your argument this morning wouldn’t have been so heated that she felt the need to storm off. You care, even if you’re too worked up to realize it.”

"What the hell do you know about it?" Trent retorted hotly. Who was this guy? He didn't even know him.

“Look, I called to keep a fellow ranger and as far as I thought someone who cared about Kira informed,” Xander told him annoyance in his tone. He glanced up at Tori and rolled his eyes as he mouthed 'idiot' at her.

"She's alright isn't she? If she wasn't…I wouldn't be the only one you called," Trent snapped, feeding off Xander's annoyance. He wanted to bang his head against the wall for being such an idiot. But it was too late to back off now.

Xander groaned, “This is as bad as trying to talk to V when she was dating that guy who was a carbon copy of her. How have you two lasted this long?”

"It's none of your damn business," Trent retorted. "Are we done here?"

“No, we’re not done,” Xander stood and began to pace, so focused on how angry Trent was making him that he’d forgotten Tori was even there, “One of my teammates got in an argument, a stupid one, with someone she obviously cared about. Then went off on her own and got attacked. That makes it my business and this is ridicules! I called you because I was the one who wanted to have a go at you the least! I didn’t realize I’d be talking to someone who makes V seem like a cuddly kitten and Chip a walking academic encyclopedia. One Dustin doesn’t even look at girls that aren’t available. Two he was cuddling with Tori too, who is practically his sister by everything but blood. And three you were dating Kira and let me tell you every time I’ve so much as lightly flirted with her she’d tried to pound me into the ground. Get over yourself.”

Trent slammed his phone shut without a word, and resisted the urge to chuck it against the wall. He couldn't afford a new one and he wasn't going to tell his father why exactly he chucked it in the first place. His father would probably read him the riot act. Dammit I'm an idiot, he thought angrily. He'd hung up on someone who wasn't trying to pick a fight with him, and he hadn't even found out for sure if Kira was okay or not. "Shit," he groaned, as his head thudded against the wall instead of his phone.

Tori’s eyes widened as she watched Xander get more and more upset. "Xan… Xander!" she tried. He was supposed to be the one who handled Trent with a calm, cool, and collected head.

Xander stared at Tori’s phone suddenly hearing his own words, “That didn’t go well.” He hadn’t meant to make it worse. He groaned, “Kira’s gonna kill me.” That said he flopped onto the grass and gave Tori a helpless look, “I didn’t realize he’d be that infuriating.”

Tori sighed. "Either way, I'm not sure you made things any worse than they already are. I can't believe he didn't even ask how Kira was," she said incredulously as she got up and dusted her knees off. "I'm going back inside. Don't forget to water your garden, the soil is dry," she teased as she headed for the patio doors.

~~~~~*****~~~~~

After giving himself a mild headache by banging his head on the wall, Trent flipped his phone open. "Dial Conner," he ordered it. He needed to know if Kira really was okay, and he sure as hell couldn't call the mansion, considering that everyone wanted to tear him a new one. You deserve it, the voice in the back of his head reminded him. Shut it, he told himself.

~~~~~*****~~~~~

“Conner!" Ethan called not even bothering to look up from setting up the video game, "Phone!"

"Dude! I'm not deaf, I heard it," Conner said jumping over the back of the couch and grabbing his phone. "Yo jerkface, what's up?" He asked as she settled back into the couch.

"Kira got hurt in a battle. I need you to call her and see if she's okay," Trent ignored the 'jerkface' comment and got right to the point.

"And why aren't you calling her to see if she's okay? Why do I have to be the go between?" Conner asked putting it on speaker phone so Ethan could hear as well.

"Because I'm an idiot and went off on Xander when he called to tell me she got hurt. I can't call back now," Trent said with a sigh.

"Bro you are an idiot," Ethan told him, "but at least you’re admitting it. How do you go off on Xander? He's the guy that tries to reason with the monsters instead of fight them.”

"Because he told me everybody wants to pretty much kick my ass," Trent retorted.

"Everybody does. You're just lucky Dr. O. and Hayley don't know how you acted," Conner replied grabbing one of the controllers.

"And you aren't going to tell them either, right?"

"Dude, I kinda like you, even if you are being a complete dick. I won't say anything, but you need to get off you're high horse and apologize to Kira, like yesterday," Conner informed him.

"I know…I know," Trent grumbled.

“Yeah, because while we might not be telling them, they’re bound to find out sooner or later. You might not want stick around for the fall out. I’ve seen Hayley when she’s pissed. It’s not pretty and I’m sure you have too. You might wanna go into hiding, for your own safety,” Ethan advised before he grinned at Conner, “You are so going down.”

Then he stopped and reviewed the conversation thus far, “Wait, Kira got hurt?”

"Yes! Xander said she got attacked because she went on her own and I got pissed and then he went off on me, and I hung up. So I don't know if she's okay or not! So you need to call and find out, and let me know, okay?"

"I still think you should find out yourself," Conner told him.

"Guys!" Trent exclaimed.

“What bro?” Ethan asked, “Look if we call she’ll know it’s for you and then it looks like were taking sides. She hasn’t even called us yet for us to let us tell her that you’re a jerk and we’re taking her side. I mean, we like ya, but come on…Dustin? You’ve met the guy, you should know better.”

"Yeah, I know. I over-reacted. I was a jealous asshole and Kira's absolutely right for dumping me, I get it… I really do. But can't you just call her to see what's up? I mean you're her friends… you could call to see how the team is getting along or something. Please!" Trent practically begged.

“Okay, okay,” Ethan agreed, “We’ll call you back after.” With that he hung up the phone. He looked to Conner, “I value my head, you call her.”

"Hell no! You call her, she likes biting my head off dude," Conner said shaking his head. "She can stay calm for you."

“Whimp,” Ethan accused even as he dialed Kira, leaving it on speaker phone.

“Hi,” a guy said.

“Hi, can we talk to Kira?”

“Um, Dude who is this?” Did Dustin sound hesitant?

“Dustin, it’s Ethan and Conner.”

There was a pause and then a, “It’s like totally up to her dude, hang on.” They heard him tell Kira they were on the phone.

~~~~~*****~~~~~

Kira grabbed the phone from Dustin, "Hey guys, what's up?" She asked, curious as to why exactly they were calling. Did they have ESP or something? Did they know she’d gotten hurt?

"Umm..." Conner fidgeted, "How are you? How's the new team?" he said quickly.

"The team is great, everybody is cool… as for me, I've been better," she admitted, leaning against Dustin who was sitting next to her on the couch. Dustin wrapped his arm around Kira, hoping that the call wouldn’t upset her.

Ethan threw Conner a look and mouthed, ‘like she’ll fall for that’ but he played along anyway, “So what do you mean by better?”

Conner made a face at Ethan, "Yeah, what happened?"

Kira rolled her eyes and covered the mouthpiece of the phone, "Do they think I'm stupid?" she asked Dustin softly. She put the phone on speaker, "I broke up with Trent and got attacked by Ruby Tuesday's foot soldiers," she told them.

"So are you like… okay?" Conner asked.

“Yeah, are you okay?” Ethan echoed before he told her, “Trent, we already knew about. We were kinda waiting for you to call so we could say we think he’s being an idiot, have let him know we think he’s an idiot, and that we’re on your side.” Off the look Conner was giving him he said, “What, like she hadn’t already figured out we knew about that? I’m not about to get chewed out.”

"Still! You didn't have to tell her!" Conner exclaimed.

"Guys… Guys!" Kira exclaimed into the phone, hoping to quiet both of them. "I didn't call you guys because I didn't want you guys taking sides. Since you guys are friends with both of us," she informed them. "And I'm fine, bumps and bruises mostly. I got cleaned up and I'm feeling fine, albeit a little sore," she admitted.

"Thank god," Conner said with a sigh. "Trent wanted to call, but he was being an idiot."

"What?" Kira exclaimed.

"Uhh… Ethan…" Conner looked at him, 'help me', he mouthed.

“Thanks bro, we’re dead,” Ethan glared, “What Conner meant to say is that we already took sides cause someone had to tell him that he was being an idiot. We don’t know who told him you were hurt, but well you were hurt. Don’t you think we’d want to know you were okay? Please don’t kill us?”

Dustin gave Kira a careful squeeze hoping to sooth her.

Kira covered her mouth to keep a giggle from erupting, the boys were hilarious when they thought she was going to kill them, "I'm fine… and you can tell him that I'm fine too," she grumbled. "And tell him if he wants to call me again, he needs to take the stick out of his ass before he does or I'll do it for him and then I'll beat him with it," she added heatedly, snuggling into Dustin more. He calmed her.

"Right, I'll be sure to tell him," Conner replied, "So, you're not going to kill us? Right?" He asked hopefully.

"Only a little bit," she said mock-seriously.

“How bout you don’t kill us and we won’t be upset that you didn’t call us to vent,” Ethan attempted to bargain, “We’re your friends too, even if taking sides might be involved.”

Kira sighed, "Fine and I know you're my friends, but I didn't want to put you in the middle of mine and Trent's shit," she replied, still firm in the fact of why she didn't want them involved.

"So, it still affects us," Conner pointed out.

"I know! I know, but you do see my point right?" She asked, hoping that they at least saw her point of view, even if they didn't agree with it.

“Right yeah,” Ethan told her, “so we only get to hear about it from his end. How’s that fair to us?”

"Tell him to shut his mouth, besides… venting will only piss me off again, I don't want to be pissed off again… he's a freakin' idiot, a jealous little prick, and he finally took it too far when he insinuated that I'd throw myself at Dustin while I'm still in a relationship with him," she said hotly, the not wanting to be pissed off point going right out the window.

"So much for not getting pissed off," Conner muttered to Ethan.

"I heard that Conner!" Kira growled.

"I'm so dead," Conner bemoaned.

Dustin pulled her closer and leaned his forehead against the side of her head as he told her, “They’re not trying to piss you off.”

“Kira, I didn’t mean it like that,” Ethan said. So much for meeting toughness with toughness, he should’ve known it wouldn’t work. “Look he knows he’s being an idiot. We’ve told him he’s being an idiot and we’re not trying to piss you off. We were just worried about you,” Ethan attempted to sooth. Conner was right, they were so dead.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry," Kira apologized with a sigh, snuggling into Dustin more. "Just talking about it makes me mad, which is why I don't want to talk about it," she explained. "I was going to call you guys, I swear, just after I had a few days to cool off."

"We just want you to know that you aren't the only one who thinks Trent is being a jerkface," Conner told her.

"Do Dr. O and Hayley know yet?" Kira asked curiously.

"No, none of us wants to tell them," Conner explained.

"Good, don't mention anything to them yet, okay. I don't want to stir up more trouble right now," she told them.

“Okay, we won’t,” Ethan reassured, “Can I go kick Conner’s butt now? I’d just set up the new controllers when we found out you’d been hurt.”

"He won't kick my butt. I'm getting better at this game dude!" Conner exclaimed.

“Yeah right, you’re going down,” Ethan told him.

"Have fun boys, I'll talk to you later," she hung up the phone and looked over at Dustin.

"Well, that was interesting," she said with a sigh.

Dustin hadn’t realize how wrapped around each other they were until she turned to him. They were practically nose to nose. He froze not sure if he should back away or answer her, “Interesting…yeah.”

Adam walked into the living room and stopped dead in his tracks in the doorway, seeing Kira and Dustin nose to nose, looking like the were about too…

"Oh…" Adam kept the groan threatening to come out firmly in his head. Mentally, he was saying 'oh god, oh no… not now… they just broke up… and relationships and… shit.'

Kira licked her lips. "Yeah…" she whispered and was just about to bite the bullet and kiss him when she saw Adam out of the corner of her eye. "Adam!" she flushed bright red.

“Adam!” Dustin scrambled to his feet, “Ah, hi dude, hi. Ah Kira got a call from Ethan and like um Conner and they had heard she was like hurt and wanted to like know that she was okay.”

"Ooookaaaayy," Adam said raising an eyebrow at Dustin. What was the guy so jumpy about, it's like he’d gotten caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "So how are you feeling Kira?"

"I'm feeling fine. I'll probably be sore for a bit, but it's no biggie," she said fighting through her blushes and stretched nonchalantly.

Dustin realized he had probably overreacted, but he couldn’t have stayed on the couch wrapped around Kira like that. How had that happened? How had they become so tangled so quickly? She’d just broken up with Trent, he couldn’t be doing that. He really wanted to kiss her and then it’d almost happened right in front of their leader. What was wrong with him that he wasn’t able to keep his hands to himself?

“I’m going to like go make dinner,” Dustin announced as he tried to discreetly make his exit. He needed another run. He needed another Tori explaining things to him session. Maybe he needed a Shane explaining things to him or Cam before he drove Tori nuts. Dustin shook his head with a groan. What did he think he was doing? Kira couldn’t really want him, could she? She probably only saw him as a friend, a good friend, and he couldn’t put that on the line by wanting her, could he?

Kira sighed as Dustin took off. "You have horrible timing, you know that," she said to Adam, crossing her arms and shooting him a look.

"You sure you wanna be moving that fast?" Adam retorted, raising an eyebrow to that look. "You just broke up with Trent…"

"I know. And I'm not as upset about it, which leads me to believe it wasn't meant to be in the first place," Kira said dropping her arms and shrugging.

"Just…be careful," Adam felt compelled to say before heading out of the living room towards him room. "Why me? Why my team?" He grumbled once he was inside his bedroom. "This can’t be good," he continued to talk to himself as he crashed on the couch in his room. He needed a nap.

~~~~~*****~~~~~

Xander paused at the opened door to Adam’s room. He almost felt bad going in there, the others had stressed the issue that this was Adam’s space and they had to respect that, but he had called twice and gotten no answer. “Adam?” he tried again as he stepped into the room and looked around.

It didn’t take him long to find their leader on his couch passed out. Xander frowned. Adam was sweaty, and it was clear from his face that he was having a nightmare. Xander shook him and when that didn’t help he shook him again. “Adam, wake up. Dustin sent me to get you, dinners ready. It’s just a bad dream, wake up,” he tried.

In his dream, or rather, his nightmare, Adam had been knocked out of his morph by the powerful monster. He was trying to rise to his feet but found himself pinned down by the monsters foot. "You failed," it said sinisterly. "Now watch as I destroy your precious teammates, one… by… one."

"No!" Adam yelled out in his sleep, thrashing about a bit in an attempt to get away from the monster and save his team.

Xander jumped back when Adam yelled, then shook him harder, “Adam! Come on mate, wake up.”

"Leave them alone!" Adam sat up, in full on battle mode, ready to punch the monster and get free. He stopped, his fist an inch from Xander's face. "What?" he said breathlessly.

Xander’s first instinct was to stumble away, but he stayed where he was, watched as Adam lowered his fist before he joked, “Must have been some dream, could’ve hurt me.”

"I’m so sorry Xander, I was so caught up in that dream," Adam shook his head, trying to clear the remnants of it away.

Xander reached out to give Adam’s hand a squeeze, just so his leader would know he’d been joking. As soon as he touched Adam Xander jumped back with a hiss of pain. “Ow!” he pulled his hand into himself and looked at Adam confused, “What? That was just a nightmare, right?” He hadn’t just got a sense of terror, pain and confusion all being pushed into Adam, had he? It hadn’t actually felt like dark magic had it?

"What?" Adam looked up at him curiously, then stood up to stretch. "It was just a bad dream, just the stress of acclimating to the new team."

Xander frowned. Part of him wanted to let it go, but the part of him that knew magic, the part of him that cared about his teammates and saving the world didn’t let him. He took a step towards Adam.

“Didn’t feel like nothing,” he muttered as he reached out his hand again and took Adam’s, pressing forwards this time with the good magic that was inside of him. He stumbled back and his legs gave out. “That doesn’t feel like nothing and it doesn’t feel like good magic either,” he said shaking his head, then he laughed, “Good thing I didn’t try kissing you to see what that was…you’d have killed me and the spell might have gotten a hold of me too.”

Adam groaned. "Xander," he said exasperatedly and hauled the young man to his feet. "It was just a bad dream. Everybody has them," he told him firmly. There was no way he could be under a spell, they hadn't even had a proper battle yet. "Seriously. I'm fine Xander," Adam continued. "Now what did you want?" He ran a hand through his hair and tried to shake the thoughts of 'what if Xander's right' from his head.

“Dustin sent me in here to get you for dinner,” Xander answered then continued, “If it was just a dream I wouldn’t have been knocked down by the force of it. It wouldn’t hurt when I touch you. It wouldn’t feel like dark magic.”

"Maybe you just tripped," Adam reasoned. If he was under a spell, how had it happened? Why hadn't he noticed it? Not even the first battle and something has slipped past me, he thought miserably. "Let's go down to dinner," he said heading for the door, though suddenly, he didn't have much of an appetite.

Xander frowned as Adam headed towards the door. He was right wasn’t he? Why did Adam look so miserable if he thought he wasn’t under a spell? “I tripped from touching your hand? You may be hot, but I’m not love struck,” Xander pointed out. What if he was wrong? Then he’d just look like an idiot in front of his team.

Adam just groaned at Xander. "Why me…" he muttered as he headed down the stairs. "So not cut out for this," he said to himself, stopping before he reached the kitchen and shaking his head, clearing his thoughts and trying to put on a normal demeanor for the others.

Xander caught up with Adam, “And if I’m right?”

"You're not," Adam said looking over at him. "What? I'm under a spell to have bad dreams? Come on Xander seriously."

Xander wanted to back down at that. He frowned and wet his lips, “What was the dream about? You’re looking exhausted lately, how’s that not undermining your ability to function?

"It was about…" Adam paused and thought about it. It'd just been there, in his head. "It was…" he paused again, he’d just had it. "I don't even remember now," he said with a shrug, he knew he'd explained it to Jason so why couldn't he remember it now? "It's nothing Xander, let it go, alright?"

What if he was wrong? Xander frowned, maybe he was wrong. “All right, sure thing boss,” Xander told him. He needed to talk to Udonna, Udonna would know what to do. Clare would probably know better than him what to do. He needed to get to Briarwood, but he couldn’t just disappear during team dinner night. Later, he promised himself.

~~~~~*****~~~~~

Still uneasy and knowing the Adam would likely trust Kat’s opinion before his Xander sought her out. He gave her his best winning smile and told her, “I have…I think…” He collapsed into the nearest chair, “I’m not even sure how to say this, but I need your opinion on something.”

Kat looked over at the young man, he looked slightly disturbed by something. Whatever it was, she hoped it was something simple and easy to take care of, she hated seeing other rangers in need. "Best way to start something, is starting at the beginning," Kat offered in response.

“When Dustin had me get Adam for dinner,” Xander started slowly, “he was having a nightmare. I tried to wake him up, but I wasn’t able to. He came out of it on his own, but when I touched him I got the feeling that he’s under a spell, dark magic. It knocked me down when I tried to find out more, but he dismissed the idea.” Xander stared down at his hands not sure how to continue. He was sure that Adam was under a spell, was sure that dark magic was involved and yet at the same time he wasn’t able to say so with confidence until he had someone else agree with him.

"Whoa, back up," Kat said slowly. Adam, under some sort of spell? "Detail by detail. What happened when you went to go wake Adam up; don't leave anything out," she ordered. There had to be a rational explanation for what happened. Who would put Adam under a spell? Villains never did the smart thing, attack the leader first when he's most vulnerable.

Xander looked up. Maybe she'd believe him? He frowned, where exactly should he start? "He didn't respond to me when I said his name so I went into his room. He was asleep, obviously having a nightmare. I tried to shake him more than once to get him to wake up. He came out of it and almost punched me in the face. I squeezed his hand after he apologized and it hurt. It felt like dark magic to me so I tried touching him again, tried to sense it, figure out what it was, but all I got was a sense of dark magic and a spell before I found myself nearly on the floor. He helped me up. I explained, but he seems to think he's only have nightmares. He wouldn't even tell me what it was about." Xander ran a hand through his hair, "Maybe I shouldn't have flirted with him, maybe than he'd have believed me."

Kat sighed, "Xander, flirting automatically gives off a sense of, not nonchalance, but… lightheartedness…As if you're saying, no worries mate," she tried to explain. "But," she continued, "Are you sure you didn't fall back until after he nearly boxed your ears?" She asked, biting her lip. She knew Adam had been on edge lately, and he'd been having trouble sleeping. But it couldn't possibly be the villains, they couldn't be that smart, could they?

"I always flirt," Xander defended before, "but I guess you're right. And no he didn't actually hit me. I didn't move until I touched his hand and I didn't trip."

Kat sat back against her chair, "Well, are you one hundred percent sure that you felt the presence of a spell Xan? Completely sure?" She ran a hand through her blond locks, it would explain the dreams… dreams that had woken her up from down the hallway, but that could also be explained by adjusting to the leadership of a rag tag group of rangers and the stresses of returning to the life he'd thought he'd left behind.

“I was until he wouldn’t believe me. He’s worked with magic before hasn’t he? Wouldn’t he know what a spell felt like?”

"The only thing that doesn't make sense is why are they going after him now? There hasn't even been a significant attack on the city yet," she got up to pace in front of their chairs. "What would this type of spell accomplish? I mean… okay it will bollix up his sleeping schedule, but Adam is still getting at least some rest, and he can function on little sleep. I just don't understand the why of it."

“That’s the only part that makes me doubt, the why. I know magic, well there’s still a lot I have to learn, but it felt like a spell,” Xander stopped to stare at his hands again feeling helpless. If Udonna was here she’d know what to do, but it wasn’t like he could easily take a trip over to Briarwood, it would require time, time he might not have. There would be friends to visit and gossip to catch up on. There couldn’t be a quick pop in for a spell and pop out, not without insulting several close friends that he’d rather not insult.

Kat cocked her head to the side thoughtfully, running through all the why's of the situation. "If it is a spell, its ingenious, but villains just don't act like that, not with out a…a… something," she growled softly in frustration, her 'cat' qualities tended to come out when she was upset or frustrated.

Xander shook his head, “Villians so smart Phineus wouldn’t stand a chance…I’m not sure I’d want to see that.” Then he groaned in frustration, “So you think I might be right? What do I do? It’s obvious Adam’s not going to believe me.”

Kat shook her head, "I don't think there's anything you can do. If Adam's disinclined to believe you, we may just have to let this play out, unless things get worse. I'll keep an eye on him, and see if I can't fish out what's going on… you keep you're ears open too, alright?" She didn't like the answer she'd just given, but she didn't really know what else to do.

Xander nodded, “I could talk to Udonna. I’m sure she’d know a revealing spell, but it felt like the kind of spell he’d have to break for himself, not one we could find a way to counteract on our own. I hate feeling helpless.”

Kat nodded, "So do I, but you're probably right. In my experience, most personal attacks like this require the attackee to figure a way out of it themselves," she sighed. She didn't like that idea. Adam was dealing with so much already; this was just one more thing.


End file.
